Getting Along

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

GETTING ALONG

1 Thess 5:12-15

12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

NIV

We still have more to do with these last instructions. We left off with encouraging the faint-hearted and now we need to help the weak and be patient with everyone. It is always interesting to see what the translations do with the Greek, most of them come close to help the weak, support the weak, uphold the weak, take care of the weak, yet the Greek uses in the context to hold up, support those who cannot achieve anything great, or those who are feeble, sickly, with infirmities. That word translated as weak could mean either of those two. However, considering we are to encourage the faint-hearted who could also be seen as one who does not or cannot achieve anything great because of their lack of faith, then helping or upholding the weak may well be those with some physical problem. So then we should care for them, help them, be of assistance to them, but the question is just how we do that. We suppose the church in general does meet that need at times when someone is ailing or unable to care for themselves. Our church has a food chain and we suppose some would take care of the outside, such as mowing a lawn or something else. This might be how this helping the weak could appear. That might be easier than being patient with everyone. That fact is there are people who have aggressive personalities, and some who are far passive. The movers and shakers and the sit backers so to speak. We also have those whose personalities are like fingernails on a chalkboard, while others are a sweet as mom’s apple pie. There are people we are simply drawn to, and others who repel, keeping everyone at an arm’s length. But we are not to be responsive, but rather active in our attitude by being patient with everyone. That is one of those things that are easier said than done. However, in the context, this may mean something else. It would seem this being patient carries the meaning of not losing heart. That might apply to those who are having struggles with their faith, or do not understand the truth of the gospel as we do, are not getting as involved as we think they should, or something along with those ideas. It goes along with living in peace with everyone, encouraging the faint-hearted and so supporting, holding up those who are weak in their faith, and not losing heart because they are not advancing as fast as we may be in the understanding of the truth. It is about getting along with everyone.