The Loving Heart of a Parent

November 15, 2016

The Loving Heart of a Parent

“. . . never get tired of doing good.”

2 Thessalonians 3:13

Paul’s concluding statement in this middle passage of chapter three (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15), at first blush, can seem contradictory. In the first seven verses of this passage, he railed against believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received, against those unwilling to work, and those living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. Do ostracizing fellow members of their church constitute doing good? You betcha!

First, remember that being a disciple of Jesus is about submitting our whole life to the authority of God. In today’s culture, it is more common for people to add a little of God’s grace to their life and do their best to blend in with the ways of the world. Today, even when a disciple of Jesus is trying to work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), they prefer to do so in private. This stands in sharp contrast to the original class meetings of the Methodist Movement where believers met together weekly to give an account of how they were dealing with temptations as they sought to live the life of Christ. The idea is that within loving communities, the believers submitted to one another and were accountable to one another in their desire to work out their salvation.

Secondly, Paul makes it clear in the concluding verse to this passage that his exercise of discipline was from the loving heart of a parent: “Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister” (2 Thessalonians 3:15).

Life in our society is so very different that the first century small town of Thessalonica. The church was the only social setting, beyond their nuclear family, that was available to the people; thus Paul used acceptance within that society to motivate the people to hold fast to the ways of Christ. Today, we can quickly lose count of how many connections to various groups we have, especially when we add social media to the mix. What means do you think Paul might use today to get our attention and to motivate us to stand firm with a strong grip of the teachings of scripture?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.