To Encourage You

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”

In the verses above, we see the heart of Paul for the Thessalonian believers as he prays for them, but more than that, we see the heart of the Holy Spirit for those whom He has filled.  It was the Holy Spirit that was at work in Paul as He prayed, and it was by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that these words were given to each and every person who has known Christ since the day that they were written down.  It’s a prayer that believers would finish well. 

The Christian life is not a life that we enter into through some spiritual experience and then go on as if that’s all there is to it.  It’s not a life where we coast along and rely on the fact that we at one time “asked Jesus to come into our heart.” So often, we hear of those who equate Christianity with such an experience, although they may live a life that is foreign to that confession now.  Note that Paul prays that the believers’ love would “increase and abound,” for spiritual growth will, above all else, be marked by such love.  As Jesus taught us with these words: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).  So, God’s Word is telling us that whatever capacity we have for loving Him and our neighbors and whatever the love we’ve ever demonstrated, there’s still room for more growth in that area.  It’s something we should pray about for ourselves and for our brothers and sisters in Christ, for it’s what our Lord desires of us. 

And how long should we about this? How long should we continue to grow, not only in love, but in living a blameless and holy life?  Surely, it’s for a lifetime as we look forward to the second coming of Jesus. The Lord would have us to live as if He is coming at any moment, for if we know Him, we will either go to Him at our death or He will come to us before our death, and no one knows when that moment might be. 

May God give us a heart to press on in our faith, never to “coast,” and never taking our eye off the fact that we will soon meet Jesus.  It’s the heart of Peter who reminds us with these words: “Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-11).