THURSDAY 14th
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
NIV (vv16-17) – ‘May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.’
ESV (vv16-17) – ‘Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.’
In the closing verses in chapter two, Paul is making a request that Jesus himself along with God the Father would comfort the hearts of the believers and establish them in every good work and word. He first makes the statement ‘God our Father, who loved us’, it is a reminder of the deep love that God had shown towards mankind, a love that caused him to send his one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to die for the sin of mankind, it is further evidence of the relationship of the Father and the Son in working together for our eternal redemption. It mentions also ‘his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope’, (NIV) reminding us not only of his love but also his grace, which is not only active in redeeming us, but also in keeping us and strengthening us, it gives us eternal encouragement and hope, what a wonderful and grand salvation!
Paul then continues that he wants the believers to be established toward every good work and word. Work and word – this conjures up to me the idea that as men and women who have been saved because of God’s love and grace we should be active in living out our faith, we should be active in our work for the Lord and in our sharing of the good news. It is something we should be established in, that is that it should be a regular feature of our Christian experience. What has the Lord called us to do? The challenge is, are we being obedient in the doing. What has the Lord called us to say? Are we being active in our telling, for we are all called to do and to speak for the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all charged with the responsibility of sharing the good news whether through word or deed so that others may come to the same living and eternal hope that we have with the living God.