Prayers of Paul 12

This will be the final reflection on the prayers of Paul. I hope you’ve enjoyed them and that they have been helpful.

1 Thessalonians 1
2We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father, 4knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God.

Paul begins his first letter to the Thessalonian church by telling them how grateful he is to God for them. He goes on to list the reasons for his gratitude. Their “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father” has made an indelible impression on him.

Faith, hope and love—sound familiar? 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Faith, hope and love are enduring, and anything obtained or accomplished through faith, hope and love will last for eternity. Conversely, anything obtained or accomplished through independence, greed and selfishness may satisfy momentarily, but will not last.

Therefore, the reason Paul is so grateful for the Thessalonian church is the fact that they are actively investing their time and energy into that which will yield an eternal reward. I am using the word ‘actively’ for good reason. Faith, hope and love do not exist in a vacuum. Each must be put into action in order to be effective. That is why Paul emphasizes the action of their “work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope.” Let’s look at each one individually.

James tells us that faith without works is dead. But the faith of the Thessalonian believers must have been very much alive for Paul to make special mention of their “work of faith.” How active is our faith? Would Paul see enough evidence in our lives to commend us as he did the Thessalonian church?

We’ve all heard someone say, “That was a real labour of love!” It usually indicates that they have done something for someone that was unpleasant or that required great sacrifice. The point being that their love for that someone outweighed any personal cost associated with what was done. Jesus performed the ultimate labour of love for us. Hebrews tells us that Jesus, “for the joy set before him endured the cross.” Every day we are presented with many opportunities to perform labours of love. The degree of love in our hearts determines whether or not we will take those opportunities.

Hope that is real will endure. Otherwise, it is merely wishful thinking. What causes hope to endure is its object. Paul identifies “our Lord Jesus Christ” as the object the Thessalonian believers’ unshakable hope. We pin our hope on all kinds of things: other people, our abilities, luck, the weather. But the only hope that does not disappoint is hope in God. We also hope for many things: to win the lottery, for our team to win the championship, to pass a test. But only our hope for God to fulfil His promises is certain.

Today let’s pray:
That our faith will be characterised by action.
That God would fill our hearts with self-sacrificing love.
That our hope would be in God alone.