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Theo Tigno•
8/26/2003 6:33 am
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Tuesday, August 26th 2003 |
1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8
You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our reception among you was not without effect. Rather, after we had suffered and been insolently treated, as you know, in Philippi, we drew courage through our God to speak to you the Gospel of God with much struggle. Our exhortation was not from delusion or impure motives, nor did it work through deception. But as we were judged worthy by God to be entrusted with the Gospel, that is how we speak, not as trying to please men, but rather God, who judges our hearts. Nor, indeed, did we ever appear with flattering speech, as you know, or with a pretext for greed - God is witness - nor did we seek praise from men, either from you or from others, although we were able to impose our weight as Apostles of Christ. Rather, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children. With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is in thanksgiving for all the wonderful blessings God gives each of us daily.
We must draw strength from our struggles to do God's will alone with a spirit of humility.
There is so much packed within today's reading that we could be here all day, but we all have lives to live and the Gospel to preach. After all, we can continue to pontificate the word of God until we feel that we are great theologians to make us feel better about ourselves, but is that the will of God? In today's reading, St. Paul does not look at merely meditating on the Word of God. Rather, he decides to follow God wherever he is led to, regardless of his own comfort levels. In fact, there is almost a sense of gratefulness in his words today because of the hardships he endured in preaching the Gospel message in Philippi.
Of course, the reason he is able to endure the hardships is because he knows that everything that he does is only for the greater glory of God. Pride is far from his heart because he is not pointing to himself, he points to God. This is our goals as well as we continue to preach the Gospel in our daily lives to those who are unwilling to believe. I know that in today's world, there are many who are deceived and are unwilling to believe. We must continue to pray for them and live our lives according to the Gospel so that they too may see the joy and peace that comes from following the Lord with humility. (BTW, I still have yet to find complete joy and peace in my life, but I know that we will never be able to experience that complete joy and peace until we reach heaven, but it's always good to know where true joy and peace come from...)
May God give you strength this day through the surrendering of your will and desires for the sake of The Kingdom of God. Take care and God Bless.
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