The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in 1 Thessalonians 1:6,
"You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit."
Paul and his entourage were models, or patterns the Lord used to express what it was he desires from us all. Paul acknowledged it was the both the Lord and himself, together with his team, that showed the Thessalonians the way into God's kingdom. The proof of their acceptance of the "message", the gospel, was in their following the Lord and Paul as patterns.
From time to time I marvel at how the Lord has decided to use us, one another, in each others lives. He chose not to use a dusty old theology book to inform us of his program of redemption, but to use a living message, a message with great power, Romans 1:16, and the example of others he brings into our lives, to both draw us to him and show us the way to spiritual maturity in him. And, he has decided this be done on a personal basis, requiring the sharing of lives. A living message residing in living beings.
Paul speaks of this in his letter. He reminds the Thessalonians that he and his fellow workers cared for them "Just as a nursing mother cares for her children." He also mentions he dealt with them "as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God..." Paul "parented" these folks as he built up this church. Not an impersonal seminar, not in the sterility of a classroom setting, not in the distance of a stadium-sized "worship service" conducted by the leadership up front. Paul and his fellow-workers established and grew this fellowship in the intimacy of personal relationships, likened to that of parents caring for their children.
So successful was Paul in his efforts, this growing fellowship became a model or pattern for "all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia." 1:7. Paul replicated himself in these believers in Thessalonica as he shared his life with them.
God's plan of redemption is of relationships, of contact and communication. It requires the sharing of lives, lives that have been gifted by God himself to reach out to the rest of us. I am reminded of Peters words, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10. It is God himself that has designed it this way and his choice to do so says something about himself. Peter goes on to say, "If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen." 1 Peter 4:11.
God is a personal God. He does take his seat on the throne of power over all that exists, and yet he is personal. He cares for each of us in an intimate way. It was this love he has for us that prompted him to send his Son to die a miserable death on that cross for each and every one of us, that we might spend eternity with him. His love and care for us is acknowledged even in our physical deaths, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants." Psalm 116:15.
I think a lot can be gleaned about the heart of God in how he requires our hearts to be engaged in what he desires to do through us in the lives of others.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
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