Strengthen and Encourage

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

STRENGTHEN AND ENCOURAGE

1 Thess 3:1-5

3:1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we were destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.

NIV

There is something afoot here which is not stated clearly, but we have a glimpse into the personal feelings of Paul that gives us a clue regarding Paul being left alone in Athens. First, we can see the intense concern he has for the church in Thessalonica. His concern was that the tempter may have subverted all Paul’s time and efforts he poured into the people there. Believers are always in the sights of the tempter. Whenever someone has a close and personal relationship with the Lord, the tempter is sure to show up, just as he did in the Garden of Eden. So Paul, at his own expense, which is being left alone, sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage their faith, so they would not be unsettled because of any trials they are going through. Again, another glue for us in that we too could be subject to some trials at times in our walk with the Lord. Our life may not always be a bed of roses, for there are thorns on the rosebush as well. Nevertheless, we can be assured that God will also send someone alone to encourage and strengthen our faith. This clue about Paul having Timothy go, and thus being alone in Athens shows us just how much Paul felt it inconvenient to not have a fellow worker beside him in the work of the Lord. When two are laboring together to spread the gospel in a new area, it gives strength to the cause. We do know from the following verses that Timothy does return to Paul in Athens, giving him the report about the church in Thessalonica. Thus this letter is a result of Timothy’s report. So we see that it is good to be about the Lord’s business with the help and fellowship of another believer, and we also see that as believers we will be subject to having the tempter hanging around making every effort to trip us up. Again, we can see that we do need each other so as to strengthen and encourage each other. We see that it is good to be concerned about the faith of our fellow believers and at times that concern might be at the cost of some personal inconvenience. We need to be about giving strength and encouragement to our fellow believers, whatever that looks like. It seems as we are jumping around with our thoughts about this passage, and the truth it bears in our lives. We just cannot organize it well, but the points are there. One, trials will come our way. Two, we need to be concerned for others. Three, being concerned could cost us. Four, we all need strengthening and encouragement. Five, we need each other in our labor for the Lord.