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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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2 Thessalonians 1:11
“With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfil every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.”
How circumstances change – don’t they?
To be counted “worthy of His calling” today, we would think relates to prospering financially or being involved with a ‘successful’ and expanding ministry.
Here, Paul is writing to a church undergoing severe persecution and deception. They were under attack from without and within. To this group he writes, “that our God may count you worthy of His calling.”
We are all called to persevere. We are all called to be “salt” and “light” (see Matthew 5:13-16). We are all called to be overcomers (see Revelation 2 & 3). God gives special grace to those who have to ‘suffer for Him.’ We cannot do it in our own strength – but He gives grace to those who need it. Paul and the New Testament church considered ‘suffering for the sake of Christ’ something to be proud of (see Romans 8:17). They counted it a privilege. We see it as an offence or failure.
Paul wrote, “I want to know Christ … and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10-11).
As the old hymn says (Paul didn’t want to),
‘Be carried to the skies
On flowery beds of ease,
Whilst others sought to win the prize
And sailed through gory seas.’
He saw that personal identification with the same opposition Christ found and experiencing the same rejection, hostility, pain and suffering as Jesus did was confirmation of being on the ‘right-track’. He wanted to truly and fully follow Jesus and was prepared to pay the price to do so. (See also John 16:33 and James 1:2-4.)
We see opposition as something to be avoided at all costs. The thought of having to suffer physically for Jesus is abhorrent to us. No wonder the church in the West is considered to be irrelevant, whereas the Church in the persecuted East is growing vibrantly. Our problem is that we have preached a Gospel that is not worth dying for. Often it’s not even worth giving time or money to.
Paul also prayed, “that by His [God’s] power He may fulfil every good purpose of [theirs].” Yes, though they were weak and under attack – God would be both their strength and their victor.
“And every act prompted by your faith.” Through all the pressure and opposition – they held firm – but not only that – they went on the offensive. They lived ‘by faith’. They trusted God for the impossible. They took risks which relied totally on the power of God and His enabling.
And, guess what? God loved it and made it happen. He will for you, too.
That’s why in so many countries where Christians are prepared to ‘live life on the edge’ and have to trust God – the Church is growing faster than the ‘birth rate’.
Are you really following Jesus? Is your walk, your faith worth dying for?
I pray with Paul that “God may count you worthy of His calling”.
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