Heralds Digest

"...because God from the beginning chose you...to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 NKJV) Special privileges are created or permitted for special purposes, ordained by God. A good reflection on the essence of our salvation from physical, financial, emotional, and spiritual destructions will always draw the attention to God's special call. Unfortunately, the pursuit of self-glory always stand in the way of God's glory, whenever good wealth matter more than good work. In all of our daily engagements, a special call counts loss as gain as long as God's glory is appreciated.

"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way." (2 Thessalonians 2:7 NKJV) Someone had rightly presume every human action, without the Spirit of God, as unpredictably worse than that of the devil. The sense in the statement is basically the expression of the greater danger in an indiscernible evil, compared to an unpretentious one. In any case, only the grace of God makes a distinctive sense out of human character. With the influence of God's Spirit in man, and irrespective of the mystery of lawlessness, life is bound to keep a logical path of righteousness.

"Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power." (2 Thessalonians 1:11 NKJV) When passion mixes with interest, there exist great possibilities from human desires. For example, desire for abundant life suggests the fulfillment of the promises of promotion, protection and preservation. Unfortunately, many of human desires often contradict heavenly desires, including the desires of called-out-saints, like the Thessalonian believers. However, common denominator in believers' relationship with God is the prospect of faith growing. Apart from the showing of gratitude to God for enabling faith work, apostle Paul prayed always to God for empowering faith work. It implies that when divine power mixes with human interest, there would be no impossibility to heaven's desires in life through any form of prayer.

"Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 NKJV) God's grace does not only provide man with good Spirit, it sustains man in godliness. Without the influence of the world and its worldliness, man has unlimited access to cruise from the terrestrial to the celestial. Therefore, man is daily saddled with the responsibility to response to the demand of the good Spirit and not the dictates of the flesh. Unfortunately, human sense of good is highly subjective to the interest of the flesh, even when the demand of the Spirit is clear. The rule of the thumb is that what is good for the flesh often disagrees with the tenets of godliness. And to quench the Spirit is to procrastinate the service of the Spirit in order to satisfy the interest of the flesh.

“See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15 NKJV) Goodness is an unreserved trait of godliness; and it is resident in everyone who is created in the image of God. Conversely, wickedness is an evil trait and alien to anyone. Unfortunately, evil rendering for evil appears a sign of good control. Actually, evil doers cover their weaknesses with wicked practices. A good strength of courage is measured by the resilience of a man to pursue goodness, especially in the midst of hostility. Evil spirit knows not the path of goodness; but good spirit does good always both for self and everyone.

“But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8 NKJV) As we engage in a constant cruise past life events, it is almost impossible to hold on to a commendable impression from relationships with people (including the influence of God) behind these events. While faith is required in order to keep trusting in God’s promises, love covers multitude of inadequacies in human relationships. Without the breastplate of faith and love, Apostle Paul knows there is little or no hope of salvation for the brethren in Thessalonica. Likewise, our souls sleep-off and no longer await the coming of the Lord when we speed on without a consistent sober break. A sober drive in faith and love guarantees the salvation of the soul.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NKJV) A life without virtue is one without essence for living; and a life with a completely spent virtue is possibly wasted without a single trace of mourning from acquaintances. On the other hand, the demise of a virtuous life represents a significant mourning and loss of courage for the remaining uprights, especially when little hope of gain beyond the grave is secluded. That the dead in Christ (those who held on their love and righteous virtues to the very end of their lives) will rise first, to meet the Lord in the air, is a great source of comfort for the souls. A virtuous life promotes a victorious living for virtue and hope of eternal fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.