Yesterday we briefly looked at some thoughts surrounding what it means to be bold during difficult times. Today’s focus from 1st Thessalonians 2:1-13 rests on mastering the ability to focus on priorities – not an easy task in these days of pressures and provocations. This is #2 of 10 so please come back each day as we grow in these marks together.
“1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. 2 But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness (BOLDNESS IN DIFFICULTY) in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict (FOCUS ON PRIORITIES). 3 For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive (HONESTY), 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts (LOYALTY TO GOD). 5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed— God is witness. 6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. 7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children (SERVANTHOOD). 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us (APPRECIATION). 9 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God (HARD WORK). 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers (INTEGRITY). 11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory (CHALLENGING OTHERS). 13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers (GRATITUDE).” – 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
FOCUS ON PRIORITIES
Paul says of himself and those ministering with him at the time that they “had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict”. Chaos in life can be disorienting. Unexpected changes, circumstantial ambushes, unalleviated pressures can come our way and lead to the losing of our wits. Just about anyone can look capable on glassy seas but, when the rolling waves decide not to cease…what then? What is the prioritized function that you have been given in life? Are you a wife and/or mother staying home to care for the family and home? Has God graced you to be in a leadership position at a company where many people rely on you? Perhaps you are in vocational ministry and have been called to shepherd God’s lambs; do you find yourself in another year as a student seeking to earn the degree that may later open doors? The list is much longer, obviously, but all of us should seek to discern this season’s priorities for our lives. If we are vague about our direction or delegated action then we will likely have an air of aimlessness about our life. It’s hard to reap a harvest if you’re ignorant of the field’s location.
Paul was a gospel missionary, church planter and discipler. His mission was developing people for the glory of God. His anthem was “Christ Is Lord!” and he sought to perfect that storied song as the years went by. Unfortunately for him, Satan and unregenerate people hated his life-song of praise and perpetually sought to silence him. Beaten, stoned, jailed, exiled, pursued and scorned…Paul’s circumstances were in a constant state of unpredictability. Yet this titan of the faith continuously displayed two things: a knowledge of who he was in Christ and an awareness of what he was to be doing at any given moment. The conflict in his life never undermined the cause for his life. Paul had mastered the retention of a fixed heart and steely gaze. Demons didn’t detour him. Persecution would not prevent him. Incarceration could not incapacitate him. He had the enviable ability to accept all of his circumstances as being given to him from God, and he learned how to be who he was no matter the venue. Paul was God’s man and that seemed to be enough to get him through.
I’ve watched some people quit lately. Very few things anger me more than when people turn from faithfulness to fickleness to flight. I can’t stand to watch people who say they are indwelt by The Indomitable One exempt themselves from faithfulness due to disappointment or difficulty. Forgive my bluntness but they are spiritual pansies. If we can simplify our focus, discern our top 2 or 3 priorities in life, trust God to handle what we aren’t supposed to handle and then keep our grip on the rudder…God will see that we reach port. Events belong to God, duty is man’s delight. Paul knew that he had to declare the Gospel to the Thessalonians in a very short window of opportunity. He had the pressure of their need, the awareness of trouble behind him and in front of him, the closing walls of enemy attacks and spiritual warfare and yet, when he left Thessalonica, he was able to say some time after he finished his work there, “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 in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.” (1 Thess. 1:5-9). Those are words of a job well done in the midst of circumstances that could have led lesser believers to falter or fail. Paul’s focus on priorities in the midst of his own conflict led to the following of his example in the lives of those watching him. In essence, the Thessalonians picked up the traits of their spiritual father, Paul. Friends, Paul knew something that we must relearn in this generation: God determines our circumstances, fully empowers us for victory, and will stand by us, with us and in us in order to keep our focus while the world whirls around us. Take hold of your main priority and, in dependent faith, ask God to lead you to accomplish it.