Working, Laboring, Enduring

Working, Laboring, Enduring

1 Thessalonians 1:3 says, "We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ."

Face it, the Christian life is no piece of cake. Even Paul tells the Thessalonians he remembers them for the energy they'd expended on work, labor, and endurance. Certainly Christianity in Thessalonica wasn't simple. The entire church faced persecution, just as Paul had when he first visited this bustling port.

Perhaps, like many properous cities of today, the inhabitants were comfortable with their own undemanding form of worship to deities that fed their "felt needs" of the "good life." Work, labor, and endurance did not appeal to them.

But this church's efforts paid off. Paul used them as a model for other congregations, to show how Christians should be, how they should respond in troubles. Even today, we know the Thessalonian church as one to be admired when it comes to standing firm in trials.

Are you working, laboring, and enduring, while it seems to get you nowhere? Don't give up. Keep on being a good testimony in your work-place, and you also may become an example for others. God may lift you up in the right time and use your example in a poowerful way.

Oh Lord, I want my efforts to be of benefit to You. Keep me faithful all the way. Amen.