1 Thessalonians 1:2, 3: Christian credentials.(click here for passage)
‘’We are always thankful as we pray for you all, for we never forget that your faith has meant solid achievement, your love has meant hard work, and the hope that you have in our Lord Jesus Christ means sheer dogged endurance in the life that you live before God, the Father of us all.’’ J.B.Phillips translation.
One sunny day in the early 1980’s I decided to walk home to Morecambe where I lived at the time. I had spent the afternoon doing pastoral visits in Lancaster. As I came down the hill into Torrisholme, near the College of Further Education, I noticed a car parked on the other side of the road. A few minutes later that vehicle had moved, turned around, and it drew up alongside me. The window was wound down, and a man popped his head out and began to ask questions. Who was I? What was I doing? etc. It turned out that a crime had been recently committed in that area and I fitted the description of the culprit!! When I told him that I was a pastor going about my business, they concluded that they’d got it wrong!
But here’s a question: how did I know that this man was a genuine detective? The answer: he showed me his credentials.
In the writings of Paul, this triad of graces, ‘’…faith…love…hope…’’ are, we might say, the ‘credentials’ of authentic Christianity (see 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:13; Colossians 1:4, 5). They will be in evidence in genuinely Christian people. Some body said that faith reaches back into the past to embrace all that Jesus did for us at the cross; love reaches out into the present to embrace all of our brothers and sisters in love; and hope stretches out into the future to grasp all that God has planned for us there. He also pointed out that these are not merely attitudes. They have an active dimension: faith acts, love labours and hope grips. If they are there on the inside of a person they will show themselves on the outside. Warren Wiersbe says: ‘’Those whom God chooses, He changes.’’ ‘The Wiersbe Bible Commentary (NT)’, p.705.
I am challenged by the thought of Paul’s constant thankfulness: ‘’always’’ (2) and his ceaseless prayerfulness: ‘’continually remember’’ (3). I am sure that this means more than Paul simply calling to mind certain things that were true about them. He was prayerfully remembering them before God, thankful for the ‘faith’, ‘love’ and ‘hope’ which only He can impart, and eagerly desiring their further growth. To see God at work is also to hunger for more.
‘’Day and night you’re in our prayers…’’ The Message.
This is a good, Biblical way to encourage people: highlight to them the things in their lives for which you thank God.
May God give us such a heart to thankfully pray for our fellow-believers.
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