1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

⁶ But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. ⁷ Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. ⁸ For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹ How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. ¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. ^[1]

Leaders are just like everyone else. They cry when they hurt, bleed when they are cut, suffer when they are persecuted, and can be discouraged by life’s challenges. It was, therefore, good news for Paul to hear that the Thessalonians he longed to see felt the same about him. They were concerned about him and missed his presence among them. That news alone was enough to encourage him and give him strength to continue to persevere through all his trials. But it was not the relationship alone that encouraged him; it was their faith. Timothy’s report allayed his fears concerning their faith and comforted him in the knowledge that the tempter had not been able to tempt them away from the gospel.

Discouragement is one of the powerful tools the enemy of our souls uses against us. Discouragement will motivate us to make bad decisions about everything. Combined with our vivid imaginations, discouragement will have us thinking things about our lives and relationships that are not close to being true. Discouragement will cause us to throw in the towel and quit because of real or imagined failure. Now there is no way to tell whether Paul was thinking about all of this when he wrote this letter or if he was just self-interested, but I like to believe the former. I believe he was anything but self-interested and so he now he informs them of his petitions before the Lord concerning them. He wants to come to them, but more than that he wants their love for one another to grow and their hearts to be strengthened to the point that they would be holy and blameless in the presence of the Lord. I join with Paul today and echo his words for your life.

Lord, “make the love of Your people increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as my love does for You. Strengthen our hearts so that we will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.” Keep us today from the trap of discouragement and motivate us to say and do the things that will encourage one another. Never allow us to grow so comfortable that we become callous and aloof toward our sisters and brothers. May Your love be our love extended to the life of this world. Amen.