To Encourage You

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.”

In the verses above we see an example of believers as they “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).  And what are those circumstances in this case?  Persecutions and afflictions.  It is assumed that the reason for these persecutions and afflictions was their obedience to the faith in a wicked, anti-Christian society.  Here Paul and other church leaders give thanks to the God Who they believed is sovereign, i.e., in control, of all things. 

So, if He’s in control, and He is allowing them to suffer such hardship, why be thankful?  If God loved them and they loved God, why such trouble?  Why not health, wealth, success, and a life filled with the fulfillment of every dream? Isn’t that the message we hear so often from TV preachers today?  Isn’t that the way it should be? Wouldn’t it be so much easier to be thankful in those kinds of circumstances in contrast to the one’s they were experiencing? 

Perhaps.  However, it is the results of the difficult circumstances the Thessalonian believers were experiencing that Paul and his companions were so thankful for. And what were those results?  A faith that was growing abundantly and an increasing love of the believers for one another. 

You see, faith grows as it is tested.  We can say we believe all kinds of things, but when the chips are down and circumstances come into our lives that shake our belief system to its core, it is then that the true nature of our faith is revealed.  It is then that we find out if our faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).  It is then that we find out if our faith is anything like that of the great gallery of the faithful in Hebrews 11 who faced every manner of hardship.  Some were delivered as they trusted God in the face of things like a fiery furnace and a lion’s den, but others were not.  But even those who perished trusted God to the end. 

You see, fiery trials tend to be the rule in a believer’s life, not the exception.  As the Apostle Peter tells us “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:12-13).  And what is that glory? Surely it includes a growing faith, a faith that grows stronger in the face of trials that, but for the faithfulness of our God, could drive us away from Him rather than closer to Him.  And as the believer endures suffering, one of the results is a softened heart, particularly towards others who may be suffering the same kinds of things.  It is a love that will reach out with kindness and compassion towards others with the kindness and compassion with which Christ, in one way or another, has reached out to us in our pain. 

Growth in faith and love: it’s what every Christian truly desires, with the recognition that that growth may be both tested and enhanced by suffering.  And for this we should give thanks to our sovereign God, Who loves us too much to allow us to stay where we are, for He knows, like we never will, the changes that are needed in each and every one of us to make us become more and more like His only begotten Son.