{"id":4685,"date":"2024-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/october-1\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T05:50:30","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T10:50:30","slug":"october-1","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/october-1\/","title":{"rendered":"October 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insight from 2 Thessalonians 1:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This letter covers much of the same ground as 1 Thessalonians. It was written, apparently, shortly after the first letter. It was written because conditions in Thessalonica were steadily growing better \u2026 and worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The better<\/span><\/i> was that the Christians were growing in faith (toward God) and love (toward one another).<\/span><\/p>\n

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We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.<\/span><\/i> 2 Thessalonians 1:3<\/span><\/p>\n

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Paul and his team knew that God was behind the growing faith and love that was evident in the church. That\u2019s why they were constantly thanking him for extending grace and mercy to these saints.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Growing faith in God and love for fellow believers are two critical indicators of whether a Christian is healthy. As a believer grows in faith, he or she will naturally love other believers more. A Christian cannot be growing in faith in God and, at the same time, be loving his or her fellow believers less.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The worse<\/span><\/i> was that trouble seems to have intensified in Thessalonica. The church\u2019s growth in faith and love was happening in the midst of terrible persecution. In fact, the church\u2019s growth during this time of suffering was so extraordinary (even among churches where suffering was the norm) that Paul and his team couldn\u2019t stop telling other churches about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. <\/span><\/i>2 Thessalonians 1:4<\/span><\/p>\n

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It is important to understand that God doesn\u2019t allow his saints to suffer because he simply wants to see them suffer. Rather, he uses suffering for the benefit of the believer. Suffering\u2014and the believer\u2019s perseverance in the midst of it\u2014is evidence (but not the only evidence) that God has judged the believer worthy of his kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

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This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering \u2026 <\/span>2 Thessalonians 1:5<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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The same truth\u2014that perseverance in the midst of persecution is a mark of salvation for the saved\u2014may be seen in Paul\u2019s letter to the church in Philippi.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.<\/span><\/i> Philippians 1:27\u201328<\/span><\/p>\n

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Persecution is a mark of acceptance for the one being persecuted. It is also a road that all of Jesus\u2019 followers must travel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2026 through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.<\/span><\/i> Acts 14:22<\/span><\/p>\n

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Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted \u2026<\/span><\/i> 2 Timothy 3:12<\/span><\/p>\n


Suffering is necessary and it is good, because it is the road Jesus traveled and it is a mark that we are on that road. Taken in this way, it is easy to see why churches that suffer intense persecution flourish. They flourish because the saints know, in a very real way, that God has righteously judged them and that they have been counted worthy of the kingdom of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4685","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}