Notes to the Lord:About His Glory

2 Thessalonians 1
5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

Lord Jesus--The evidence that Paul has identified is that there is an increase in faith and love that the Thessalonian Christians are demonstrating to each other and to the world that surrounds them.

3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.

So what about my quotient of faith and love are they increasing, Lord Jesus? You convicted me when I read this quote the other day..."I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least."

Lord Jesus--You remind me again and again it is not about my perception of being right or wrong. Everything is about relationship. First relationship with you and then the people that surround me. I wonder what the reaction of these brothers and sisters to whom Paul was writing when the solders came to take them away. Did they fight? Did they grab the swords? Or, did they see their soon to be captors as people for whom You died?

6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

Lord Jesus-- You knew every tear that these brothers and sisters cried as the experienced the wrath of Rome. You know exactly where I am right now. You will not have to look for me when you come in power and glory.

8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might

This world that I live in right now is not just. The poor are oppressed and the church is too often silent. But there is coming a day when there will be justice. More than anything else I want to be found obeying and growing my faith and love. In this day that is beginning to dawn, grow my faith and love.

Help me to see your fingerprints on the circumstances of my life and your desire for me to trust you to work...let this be a day to rejoice and be thankful in.