A Model for Life in the Church

Scripture – 1 Thessalonians 2:10-13: ¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. ¹¹For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, ¹²encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. ¹³And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Reflection: Once again, this is a passage loaded with so much stuff it’s hard to find a place to begin. One of the things I see is a model for life in the church. We are to encourage one another and comfort one another. Those two words are related on a deep level.

To encourage means to fill with courage – to let someone know, ‘You can do this! Don’t give up!’ To comfort means to bring strength or fortitude to someone in a tough situation. That can come from a spoken word or a quiet presence.

A third part of the model is that we urge one another to “live lives worthy of God.” That’s one of the dynamics of being in community. We remind each other of who we are and what we’re about. The Democrats and Republicans came out of their respective conventions pumped up – ready to work for their candidates. What would happen if we came out of our worship experiences, our Bible studies, our business meetings like that?

Actually, we’re pretty good at encouraging and comforting. Urging each other on may be a growing edge for us. How might we get at that?

And how about you? Who has given these things to you? To whom might you give them over these next few days?