As the rain and snow

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
    make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
    and the rough places shall become level ways,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

“‘Bear fruits in keeping with repentance…’

“The crowds asked him, ‘What then shall we do?’ And he answered them, ‘Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.’ Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, ‘Teacher, what shall we do?’ And he said, ‘Collect no more than you are authorized to do.’  Soldiers asked him, ‘And we, what shall we do?’ And he said, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be content with your wages.'” Luke 3:1-6,8a,10-14

What stark contrast begins this narrative, juxtaposing uniformed men and be-robed priests strutting authority in nation, cities, and religion against one lone prophet in camel’s hair calling out in the wilderness. The Lord of contrasts, of world and wilderness, of individuals known and unnamed, of those in power and those who roam, issues one message for all: Repent, be forgiven, behold and bear out the salvation of the Lord. While worldly leaders conversed about matters of state, God’s messenger addressed the state of man. The word that came to him from heaven issued from him with eternal results. (Matthew 3:4)

Vast is the love of God for His creatures! Loud is His voice, wide is His mercy! He appoints some to positions of power, leaders in government, education, ministries, businesses, homes. Others He tucks into different important roles in remote and bleak places. Some He plants permanently, others He moves at will. This Lord of nature and nations is always working toward His redemptive ends. What word have we received? How faithfully do we fulfill His appointments? (Acts 17:26-27)

Are we presently strained in a world bloated with crassness, inundated with posturing, pressured with responsibilities? Are we in a wilderness barren of believers, optimism, or hope? What assignment have we received for those very places? How are we making His good news known, through word and action? What difference will we ask Him to make in and through us?

“All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my sight
High above my life
I will trust in you alone.

Where you go, I’ll go
Where you stay, I’ll stay
When you move, I’ll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I’ll love
How you serve I’ll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you.” ~Chris Tomlin (2010)

Lord, give appropriate words and inimitable light for each person in my path, so You are known and praised.

“Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him…
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
    and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
    and weighed the mountains in scales
    and the hills in a balance?
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
    or what man shows him his counsel?
Whom did he consult,
    and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
    and taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
    behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust…

“To whom then will you liken God,
    or what likeness compare with him?..
Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness…

 “To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing…

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength…
They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:10a,12-15,18,21-23,25-26,28-29,31

Questions elicit response, often putting the one asked in proper place and position. The prophet, with every rhetorical inquiry, enlarges God and diminishes the reader. The more the Lord God is magnified, the deeper and more humble the wonder at His immeasurable greatness and power, and the keener the grasp of the limits of man. The welcoming grace in this one-way conversation is the invitation to the speechless and weak to lift the eyes, behold Him with awe, and trust Him for strength and sustenance. This lofty One is nigh, with endless capacity to help.

God Almighty is infinite, measureless in power, yet also precise, exact, and perfectly controlled. Such a supernatural dichotomy raises hands high in wonder and praise, and open to heaven’s throne in every need. Are circumstances chaotic, unsteady? His arm rules with just balance. Do I struggle with priorities and boundaries? He traces the circle of earth and edges of the sea. Do I feel alone, insignificant? He knows, names, and upholds each star. Am I weary or confused? He renews and sustains with strength, and leads us forward. When will we believe and take these truths as our own?

Lord God, hush me from prideful striving to consider, behold, trust, and praise Your majesty and power.

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.

“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions.” Romans 1:18-26a

“We impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:13-14

“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

“God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.  To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-14

The opportunities for delusion have multiplied since Eden. The wily enemy of truth and mankind disguises and lies, deceiving his minions to embrace falsehood and false gods, to his delight and their undoing. Any entertaining, any giving in, any relinquishment of will, opens the way for full delusion and the inability to discern what is true. Even when we observe or suffer consequences, even when we are taught his craft, we can never give up vigilance against his wiles. (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:14; 1 Peter 5:8)

Many a man is confident of belief. I know my standards, I embrace truth, I will not be moved. Yet, our world packages lies and temptations in nice packages, mantras promising freedom and self-fulfillment, pledges of health or enlightenment or peace. We make gods of political passions, self-care regimens, careers, and family. Without even recognizing the slow-rising tide, we are inundated with warm feelings and new thinking that erode faith and sweep away sound doctrine.

Are we entertaining false teaching through what we listen to, read, or espouse? What signs of being deluded do we ignore out of convenience, spiritual laziness, or peer pressure? How will we train ourselves in truth and right thinking, and guard against delusion? God offers cleansing and redirecting when we honestly repent. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Lord, help me think rightly and worship You alone.

“I urged you… charge [them] not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions… I received mercy for this reason, that in me, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever….

“This charge I entrust to you, Timothy,.. wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience.”

“Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you… O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called ‘knowledge,’ for by professing it some have swerved from the faith.” 1 Timothy 1:3-7,16-19a; 4:14a; 6:20-21

The gift of faith, breaking in on wayward rebels, is serious business, and so is the stewardship of that faith. Paul knew well the allure of education, pontificating about knowledge, and misdirected passion leading in the wrong direction. Yet once saved, his will redeemed, his care and employment of God’s indescribable gifts became his charge and end. Faith from the Lord would be used for Him and His purposes. (Acts 22:3-8; 2 Corinthians 9:15; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Timothy 1:12-15)

This charge can present constant tension for the child of God. News and new discoveries, a plethora of interpretations and opinions, multiple choices of belief and behavior are constantly before us, vying for attention and allegiance. Faith is questioned, criticized, tested. Rather than it serving as fuel and substance we begin to sequester faith to certain days and projects. Danger pounces the moment we doubt its efficacy by God’s hand to save and transform and encompass all of life, and relegate it to a specific siloed role. (1 Timothy 4:1-3,6-11)

Are we constantly contending to prove ourselves, achieve a personal agenda, attach ourselves to worldly thought, or is our passion to know and accomplish the tasks the Lord’s entrusted to us? Stewardship of faith is revealed in how we manage resources, close relationships, work assigned, ministry duties, and the eternal results they bear. How seriously do we take these? What self-serving motives, disordered interest, or prideful control is God’s Spirit convicting us to relinquish? How can we more honorably, directedly, passionately exercise the Lord’s gift of faith, and encourage others in the same? (Titus 1:13-14; 3:1-9)

“A charge to keep I have, 
a God to glorify, 
a never-dying soul to save, 
and fit it for the sky. 

To serve the present age, 
my calling to fulfill, 
O may it all my pow’rs engage 
to do my Master’s will! 

Arm me with watchful care 
as in Thy sight to live, 
and now Thy servant, Lord, prepare 
a strict account to give!

Help me to watch and pray,
and still on Thee rely,
O let me not my trust betray,
but press to realms on high.” ~Charles Wesley (1762)

Lord, teach me honorable, fruitful stewardship of Your gracious gift of faith, to Your ends and glory.

 “Go to the ant, O sluggard;
    consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
    officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
    and gathers her food in harvest.
How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.”

“Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
    so is the sluggard to those who send him.”

“The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,
    while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.”

“The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;
    he will seek at harvest and have nothing.”

“I passed by the field of a sluggard,
    by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
    the ground was covered with nettles,
    and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it;
    I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.”

“The sluggard says, ‘There is a lion in the road!
    There is a lion in the streets!’
As a door turns on its hinges,
    so does a sluggard on his bed.
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
    than seven men who can answer sensibly.” Proverbs 6:6-11; 10:26; 13:4; 20:4; 24:30-34; 26:13-16

The only thing the sluggard accomplishes in the book of Proverbs is to appear in a variety of colorful descriptions and analogies that draw negative, and humorous, attention. Indolent, adrift, craving, grating, he is one to understand, then avoid. The Lord peppers through much wide wisdom the consistent warning to avoid laziness. It creeps and seeps and destroys ambition, vision, desire. It is the opposite, and destroyer, of vigilance and holy passion.

The sluggard’s warning is repeated because God knows the inclinations of the human heart. He targets the folly of settling into ease, relishing personal rights without responsibility, the ever-present allure of pride, sloth, and greed. Aiming to sanctify, He pokes warnings at our resolve and determination. With every illustration, He reminds us to get up, exchange ambivalence for spiritual clothes, and act like mature men. (Jeremiah 17:9; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 1 Peter 5:8)

In what areas do I tend toward a sluggard? In what responsibilities do I procrastinate? What inspirations and divine promptings do I neglect, or cast aside? When will I put this sin to bed once for all, and rise up to obey?

“Rise up, O saints of God!
Have done with lesser things;
Give heart and soul and mind and strength
To serve the King of kings.” ~William Pierson Merrill (1911)

“O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.” ~Robert Robinson (1758)

Lord, may I leave sloth behind and wholeheartedly follow and serve Thee.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or worthy of praise—think about such things.” Philippians 4:8

“The law of the Lord is perfect,
    reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
    making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
    rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
    enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
    enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
    and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
    even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
    and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
    in keeping them there is great reward.” Psalm 19:7-10

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” Colossians 3:1-2

The mind is a momentous gift from God, one of the unique aspects of humans being made in His image. By it He reveals Himself to man, and by the whole of it we can love Him- to our ultimate good and fulfillment and His glory. What we take in to our minds dictates how we will understand God’s world, and Him as its source, sovereign, and end. We choose daily either to delight in Him and His word, or to deter His influence in preference for the false, transient, and unlovely things of earth. (Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 1; Mark 12:30)

Each choice determines mindset, motive, and motion. Taking time in thoughtful prayer to review the objects of our meditations will serve us well as we set out every day. With all the allures for our attention, on what, exactly, do we set our minds? Would we be deliberate to fix them on whatever is…

True: Does my opinion or choice line up with scripture? Am I willing to consider different sides and discern by the light of God’s word and earnest investigation? Do I embrace internet snippets or jaded opinion without knowing their source? How can I better balance what I take in?

Noble: Does this attention nourish my soul? Would others see this activity as noble?

Right: Am I spending inordinate time on wrong, unrighteous, conniving, dark thinking? Would I choose instead to be biblically enlightened, wise, grateful? (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

Pure: Am I habitually reading or listening to prurient things, engaging in caustic or crude talk, disregarding their affront to the Holy One, and my soul? Am I serious about repentance?

Lovely: Why fill my mind with what’s ugly, despicable, spiked with horror? Lofty thought does not dwell in the lowlands. When will I take time for beautiful music, sights, conversations?

Admirable: Do I waste concern on greed or salacious living, gossip that titillates impulses and imagination? Googling personalities that are anything but admirable? Whom do I admire, and how am I investing to learn from and emulate them?

Excellent: Learning from jobs well done raises standards for every effort. Do I tolerate mediocrity or am I committed to excellence?

Worthy of praise: If my chief end is to glorify God, am I behaving in a way that is worthy of praise? That points others to praise Him?

Father, fill my mind with Thee, to Your magnified praise.

“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’  The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.” John 5:2-9

Thirty eight years and unable to see or move. His only refuge was the shade of the stone structures, his imagination for healing was paralyzed. When the Son of God approached and asked if he wanted to be healed, the invalid, blind to that possibility and lame to hope, was inept to make the slightest move in faith. Life had become dependence on others, and blaming the very ones who helped him at all. When Jesus invites his desire and gets no answer, He breaks into his infirmity of soul and heals him, giving what the man cannot express he wants out of pure grace.

When we live in the shallows of mediocrity, busyness, and wasted time, our vision for what could be is limited. Lives ingrained in this world seldom imagine the joys and freedom of the heavenly one. Provinciality inhibits compassion for a wider reach to others, self-interest prevents us from investing in rich relationships, and personal ambition excludes generosity and availability. We do well enough what we always have, so see no need to seek what the Lord wants to expand for us going forward. We can settle in place paralyzed with fear of the unknown, unable to take up new ideas or correction, blind to hope. According to our inclination and history, change is impossible.

But the Lord wants His people singing new songs. He came to earth to awaken the dead, revive the flagging, restore the broken, feed the hungry, redirect the wandering, heal the sick, strengthen the weak, embolden the timid, enlarge our borders. He longs to break in and arouse faith, calling us to get up and walk in new life. (Deuteronomy 19:8-9; 1 Chronicles 4:10; Psalm 96:1-3; Isaiah 40:28-31; Mark 2:17)

Where do we want the Lord to heal us so we can rebuild a relationship, conquer besetting sins, respond with courage to a new calling? He asks, standing ready to save! He’s able and willing, and requests what we want, and often we only make excuses: It’s too hard. That’s impossible. This is all I have ever known. They are against me. They never do their part. When will we respond in bold faith to His ask, declare what we need, and pick up whatever has enabled our paralysis and walk with Him? If we genuinely want His to work in and through us, we will cooperate with His commands and experience His power. (Isaiah 43:19; Philippians 3:13-14)

Lord, help me want what You want, and walk in faith rejoicing.

“He stretches out the north over the void
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not split open under them.
He covers the face of the full moon
    and spreads over it his cloud.
He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
The pillars of heaven tremble…
By his wind the heavens were made fair…
Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding…
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place…

“Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
    or loose the cords of Orion?
Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
    or can you guide the Bear with its children?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
    Can you establish their rule on the earth?” Job 26:7-11,13-14; 38:4,7,12,31-33

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him..?

Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet.” Psalm 8:3-6

“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good… apportion[ed] to each one individually as [God] wills… God arranged the members in the body,.. as he chose.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-7,11b,18

The Big Dipper stands on end in the pre-dawn, held erect by gravity, as though awaiting God’s grip to scoop and strew the myriad of stars like sparkling diamonds across the indigo sky. Each twinkles perfectly in place, connect-the-dot designs decorating the heaven-fingered canopy. Each is named, like each man known, held, and gifted by the Almighty. These are but a majestic whisper of His infinite ways, hushing the child of God into wonder and worship. (Psalm 147:4; Isaiah 40:26)

Consider the stars, and constellations upheld by God’s power, when considering His design for His children. Sometimes He appoints them for big things: to birth discoveries, movements, inventions. But many more times He uses them for small things that are part of His handiwork: the implementation of an idea, an introduction between strangers, a single life helped, comforted, admonished, or directed to Him. All are created and gifted for His purposes. (Acts 17:26-27; Colossians 1:16-17)

Where has He appointed me? What part am I taking in His grand design to further His kingdom, show kindness, fill a need? Am I frozen by intimidation or lack of confidence that focuses on me, or eager and willing to step into His marvelous plan and serve as He asks and enables? The Lord whispers daily through His people as we shine and fulfill our assigned purpose.

Lord, may my exercise of Your gifts display Your magnificent ways and glory.

“Encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

“Brothers, pray for us.

“Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss...

“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11-26,28

Paul never minces nor wastes words. He packs his writing full of cogent truths and instruction. To cogitate on a sentence or two of his inspired letters is to be convinced, convicted, or compelled. Indeed, God’s inspired word is living and powerful for all of life, steeling into our senses and prodding us to action. (Psalm 119:105; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16)

God intends that His instructions have their potent way both in and through us. Encourage and build one another up. His end is our sanctification. Respect and esteem your leaders. Be at peace and patient. Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak. God’s words encompass all His children and concern their spiritual development and welfare. Be vigilant to guard against evil and seek and hold fast to good. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks. There is no room for laziness, apathy, or grumpiness in the Christian life. Do not resist or despise or ignore Him, test everything. In all these commands, we are assured that God’s Spirit is at work and He is faithful to perform His bidding in and through us as we obey.

How carefully do we discern and heed God’s words? Are we in the practice of quenching His Spirit with excuses, disinterest, or deliberation? What commands have we chosen to ignore? What areas of spirit, soul, or body is He intent on sanctifying that we have resisted? When will we confess, repent, and yield, trusting His grace and enabling?

How thoughtfully do we consider our written and spoken words? How can we better pack a punch of gospel truth in secular conversations and opportunities to witness? With our children or others we teach, is instruction vague and benign, or direct and substantial? Do we waste words on insignificant trivialities, or when we speak, do others pay attention because our words build up and nourish? For every audience the Lord provides, may He help us prayerfully think through and communicate for maximum eternal effect. (Proverbs 25:11)

Father, fill me with truth and love so my words convey Your grit, grace, and glory.

“Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,

“To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

“Grace to you and peace.

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you [there], but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere… For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

The salutation was warm, effusing from hearts saturated with love and care and gratitude. The vibrant faith of this church was colorfully evidenced in powerful transformation, lively joy, generous hospitality, and meaningful testimony. Those who had by faith planted, ministered among, and prayed for them were naturally full of delight to learn of the Thessalonians’ ongoing labor of love, steadfast hope, and loud, potent faith.

In the Body of Christ, the working of faith by the hand of God has many components, and can be seen, heard, and felt in a variety of ways. It is expressed in individuals, the church, and culture in ways visible and invisible, silent and spoken, gripping, changing, releasing, and compelling. Active faith results in personal boldness, encouragement in prayer, comfort in distress and affliction, joy in assurance of loved ones’ security and progress in Christ. Are we experiencing this going forth of God’s gift? (Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10; 3 John 4)

In a culture punctuated with persuasive and perverted voices, what priority does a growing, widespread faith take for me? Am I more concerned with expanding knowledge, notoriety, and worldly success, or living out and speaking forth the gospel? How am I pursuing and exercising faith in Christ, and how has He worked in response?

How often do I ask others about and speak good news of faith, expressing thanks for all God has done? How can I direct conversations to encourage this gracious gift, and exalt the sovereign Savior? If this is my desire and earnest prayer, God will open opportunities. (1 Thessalonians 3:11-13)

“Like a mighty army
moves the church of God;
Brothers, we are treading
where the saints have trod;
Hell’s foundations quiver
at the shout of praise;
Brothers, lift your voices,
loud your anthems raise!” ~S. Baring-Gould (1865)

Lord, please increase my faith and multiply its effective going forth in Your kingdom, for Your glory.