By: Dale Weckbacher
1 Thessalonians 3:6-7
6 But now
that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news
of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us
kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7 for
this reason, brothers,[b] in all our distress
and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.
(ESV)
In our negative driven media world, it is always good to get
some good news. After the chaos
surrounding the initial founding of the church in Thessalonica, Paul might have
expected a bad report from Timothy. Instead,
Paul received a good report (1 Thessalonians 3:6). Paul goes on to tell them how much the good
news from Timothy brought him comfort in a time of great affliction (1Thessalonians 3:7).
This comforting report brought both joy to Paul along with
making him thankful to God (1 Thessalonians 3:8-9). Paul then expresses his continued desire to
see them face to face praying that God will somehow provide a way for that
visit to occur (1 Thessalonians 3:10-11).
Chapter three then concludes with Paul’s prayer that the church in
Thessalonica would increase and abound in love for each other and for all and
that God would establish their heart blameless in holiness before God when
Jesus returns for all his saints (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13).
If there is anything lacking during this election cycle, it
is any good or encouraging news. Instead
the electorate is deluged with constant attacks by candidates at each other
through commercials that seem to come up every five minutes. All I can say is praise the Lord for DVR’s
that allow us to record our favorite programs and fast forward through the
commercials. For this reason, I would
like to take the rest of this posting and share some good news during these
troubling times.
1)
Jesus is still on the throne (Hebrews 6:13-20) –
Jesus, unlike any earthly high priest that preceded Him, is high priest
forever. This is because he is not some
earthly high priest requiring atonement for his own sins through annual animal
sacrifices but instead is a sinless high priest who once and for all offered
Himself up as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 10:1-10). In other words, when we accepted Jesus as our
savior, no matter what may occur to us or in our world, we know without any
doubt that we will spend eternity with Jesus Christ as he reigns eternally on His
throne.
2)
If we truly love Christ, all that happens in our
lives will work for our good (Romans 8:28) – While this verse is often used to
bring comfort to those experiencing struggles in their lives, it can also cause
us to wonder how in the world this current suffering we are in could ever be
for our good. This is because our view
is limited to our present situation whereas God sees things on an eternal level
and knows the outcome. We therefore can
take Romans 8:28 on faith and trust God that there will be a good outcome.
3)
God is with us (Psalm 23:4) – God is omnipresent
which means he is everywhere all the time.
Our human minds cannot come close to comprehending someone having the
ability to be everywhere so it is easy to begin to believe God is not with us
when times get tough. However, just as
our limited view does not allow us to see the good outcome of our struggles, it
does not allow us to comprehend God always being with everyone wherever they
are at any given time. However, even
though we cannot comprehend how God can be omnipresent, we must take it on
faith that he is and that he is always with us.
4)
God loves us and sent His Son Jesus to save us
(John 3:16-17) – Most Christians and even some non-Christians can recite John3:16 from memory. However, John 3:17
expounds on the thought of John 3:16 by telling us that God did not sent His
Son Jesus to condemn us but to save us.
While this primarily refers to Jesus saving us from our sins through His
death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 10:9-10), it also refers to his being
with us to save us in times of trouble in our lives (2 Corinthians 1:8-11).
Therefore, do not let us who have accepted Jesus Christ as
our savior walk around with frowns on our face like the rest of the world
believing all is lost. Instead, let us
go around with smiles on our faces knowing our God is still on the throne, that
all that is happening is somehow part of His plan, remembering he is always
with us, and that Jesus loves us and came to save, not condemn us. Then let us share this good report with
others so they too can share in the joy and thanksgiving to God we have in
knowing our sins are forgiven.
However, perhaps you are reading this posting and have never
given your life to God by accepting the sacrifice of His only Son, Jesus, for
your sins. If that is you I encourage
you to pray the following prayer with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned
(Romans 3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans 6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my sin and cleanse
me as you promise in your Word (1 John 1:9).
I believe you died, was buried, and resurrected from the dead and now
declare you Lord of my life.
Congratulations,
all of the good promises previously mentioned in this post now apply in our
life as well. Now I encourage you to
share this good report by either sharing this post with others through twitter,
Facebook or email or by sending them to needanswers.com.
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