”11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12New International Version (NIV)
1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 Devotional (Daily Bible Verse)
Live life worthy of God
In 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, Paul reminded the believers in Thessalonica of how he and his partners in ministry had dealt with each of them as a father deals with his own children. He and his partners had therefore encouraged, comforted, and urged each of them to “live life worthy of God“.
Paul, therefore, focused on a father’s role in shaping his child’s conduct and behavior. He particularly focused on how a father fulfills this responsibility by the way that he speaks to his child. No wonder he used three verbs of speech, that is, encourage, comfort, and urge, in a bid to try and capture the various modes in which a father speaks to his children to train them to live a worthy life.
The apostle, consequently, reflected on his ministry amongst the Thessalonians and likened it to the ministry of a father in his family. Paul, with authority, therefore, spoke and charged the Thessalonians to live rightly.
What ministry should be like
Additionally, Paul, 1 Thessalonians 2, motivates you to think through what ministry should be like. Because in a span of a few verses, he compared himself to a father, a mother, and a child. He used these three (3) members of a family to describe what ministry should be like.
Prayer/Blessing
Lord God, through the words of Your apostle in Ephesians 4:11-16, You revealed that You gave the five-fold ministers to equip me so that I can live worthily before You. And this is my desire and goal in my Christian walk.
I, therefore, pray that You help me receive them as persons with authority over my life, charged to direct me to live a life worthy of Your calling. And this is why I need Your grace to receive them as such.
This is my humble prayer of faith in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Daily Bible Reading
Esther 4-7 (see How to Read the Bible in One Year or How to Read the Bible (for Beginners))
