“For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12)

We all begin our lives as children. As children, we learn how to live from those who have already lived their lives and have matured as adults. This is how it is supposed to work. Our problem comes because we are all sinners. Thus, we also pass along our sins. This is to change as we come to faith in Jesus Christ, who lived a sinless life and took our sins to the cross where He was victorious as He rose from the dead to offer us new life. Jesus teaches us how to live as children in Christ, maturing in our faith. We are to be joined with Him as we mature. He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” (Matthew 11:29)

 Paul had encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. As a Pharisee, Paul knew the Scriptures. Now he had encountered Jesus and he marveled at God’s grace as He revealed Jesus to him. “But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being.” (Galatians 1:15-16)

Through Paul’s encounter with Jesus Christ, he is called to take God’s message to the world beyond the Jews. In this call, he develops a love for those who had come to faith in Christ. The love develops as a passion to see them grow as followers of Jesus. The aim is to see them live their lives as those who have been made worthy as a child of God. Their lives could now reflect to new life given to them through their relationship with God.

As we walk in a relationship with Jesus Christ, our passion should also be to live a life that shows the changes as we live as God’s own children who have become a part of His kingdom and can show His glory. In order for us to stay focused on this aim of our new life in Christ, we need encouragement, comfort, and urging. We need them because we have one who wants to keep us from living our life as those made worthy. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) This is why we need each other’s encouragement. “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13) When we struggle and as we grow we fail, we need each other to comfort us and help us continue to grow. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) And through it all we need each other to urge each other to keep our eyes on Jesus as we follow Him. “And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15)

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block