Paul defends himself to the church in Thessalonica against all the accusations against him. It could have easily been misunderstood that Paul had forsaken the church or that he had abandoned them.
Love: V17 Paul loved the church but he was taken away from them by force. His love for them was compared to an encouraging father. He loved them with as a mother loves her baby (V7). Paul’s love for the people was unlike the usual. He was so attached to these people who he had only known for a short period of time. His love, however, was not exclusive. He loved people everywhere, not just in Thessalonica. He loved God’s people.
This is a pattern for every minister of the Gospel, to love God’s people. When Paul was taken away from them, he still prayed for them every time he thought about them. He wasn’t with them in person but he was with them in spirit.
Care: V18 Paul wanted to see them “face to face”. When you see a person face to face there is an intimacy and fellowship that cannot be felt on the phone or computer. Paul wanted to be with them. It is a sorrowful thing for a leader to not have the desire to be with God’s people.
Jesus came down to Earth and became human so that he could feel our pain and sorrows, to experience the things that tempt us and hurt us. Jesus searched for the missing sheep and lifted them upon His shoulders and gave them rest. Caring is about commitment, about sacrifice, and putting away our own agenda to make time for others. A challenge for us is to become the shoulder of Jesus for people.
Discernment: V18 Paul wanted to go and see them but “Satan had stopped them”. Satan is powerful and we can’t underestimate that. He is here to cause havoc in the lives of the people of God. However, God is more powerful though and be can’t even begin to fathom how much bigger it is then Satan’s. Paul had that spiritual understanding of when God wanted him to stop.
Sometimes Satan will shoot arrows at us and we will hold grudges against the people of God because we lack the discernment that it is a work of Satan.
Joy: Paul’s joy was to see people open their hearts to receive Jesus as their lord and savior. They were his joy and his crown. The people were what Paul had lived for.
Jesus’ life was the same. He saw the cross and because of the joy before Him, He endured the pain. Jesus was God, He had everything. He was Lord of Heaven, he could calm the storms. Jesus had it all but He became a man and endured the shame because He had joy in the hope that we would be saved.
As Christians, our joy should be to see the salvation and success of God’s people the way Paul and Jesus did.
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