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2 Thessalonians 1:11 NLT

So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.

What does it mean to live a life worthy of His calling? Paul is writing this letter to a church in Thessalonica. From the way the letter starts out, it sounds like this church is going through a rough time and it is being persecuted. This letter sounds like Paul is trying to encourage them to not give up. Trying to encourage them to not back down from the persecution. Under persecution and possible death, it might be tough to continue doing the work of God and spreading the Gospel. If you are threatened with death or constantly under attack for what you believe, how hard is it to listen to the Spirit, and when prompted, go talk to someone about God? What if it will jeapordize your job? What if it will jeopardize your friendship with that person? What if it will jeopardize your way of living?

So, back to the question. What does a life worthy of His calling mean? The Bible talks about not being saved by works so what are we supposed to do here? This verse isn’t saying you are worthless if you are not doing God’s work. You ARE worth something to God. He sent Jesus to die for our sins because we are worth something to Him.

When I read this, I don’t read it as trying to earn a reward. I’m not trying to earn my way to Heaven. I read it in the context of love. I love my wife so much. She is an amazing woman and she loves me. When you truly love someone, you don’t do things for them because you want to earn more favor with them. You do those things because you love them. If I didn’t show my wife that I love her, would I be worthy of being called her husband? Would I be living up to what it means to be her husband?

In John 21, Jesus asks Simon Peter if he loves him. When Peter replied that he did, Jesus asks him to feed his sheep. Jesus asks him to live out his love.

All this reminds me of an old DC Talk song called Love is a Verb. What are we doing because of our love for God? When we love God, we should be living a life that shows the world that we love Him. Not because we want to earn our way to Heaven. But living a life that doesn’t hide our love for Him. For me, this is how I relate to “being worthy.”

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 NLT

Dear brothers and sisters, after we were separated from you for a little while (though our hearts never left you), we tried very hard to come back because of our intense longing to see you again. We wanted very much to come to you, and I, Paul, tried again and again, but Satan prevented us. After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! Yes, you are our pride and joy.

Paul has done a lot throughout his life. He has so many things he could be proud of. So many accomplishments he could hang his hat on. In these verses though, you get an idea about his heart. You get a glimpse of what he values and puts importance on. You see that he really has a heart after God’s. He values people. He wants nothing more than to see people come to know God. He defines who he is by His relationship with God and other people.

It is so easy to get caught up in life. To persue money, jobs, toys or whatever else the world has to offer. People get so caught up in it that they wrap their self worth up in a job title, a status in society or in money. That isn’t the heart of God. That isn’t the heart of Paul either. How much better would we be as a society if we had the kind of heart we see here from Paul. It is easy to just give money to the poor or some worthy cause. Paul took that further. His joy came from seeing them come to Christ. He put a huge value on people and more importantly, on people coming to know God.

Lord, I pray that I would see people through your eyes and not through the eyes of the world. I pray that I would have a heart for other people like Paul. That I wouldn’t be so wrapped up in my own life and miss seeing when someone needs to hear about your love for them.

Lord, thank you for this word today. Thank you for your continued love and support. I pray that I would not get complacent in my walk with you. That I would not let times of peace make me soft. I pray that I would not become a “Sunday Follower” but an “Everyday Follower” of you …

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Journal entry from today:

Mark 15:15 – Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

Talk about giving into peer pressure. Pilate didn’t want to do this. He tried to get the crowd to ask for Jesus to be released. The crowd wasn’t going for it. Pilate didn’t have to go with the majority. He could have spared Jesus. Doing so might have meant a loss of power and possibly his life. He was more concerned about himself and more concerned about pleasing the crowd over anything else.

This isn’t much different than the world we live in now. So often we can get caught up in making decisions based on what others think. We get focused on pleasing man rather than pleasing God. In doing so, we are just like Pilate. We are putting Jesus up on that cross ourselves.

Today, think about that as you make decisions. Ask yourself if those decisions are pleasing to God. Be someone who is seeking God’s approval over anything else.