the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 5 of 5
2 Thessalonians 3:1-18
Paul asks for the prayers of the saints (v. 1; 1 Thessalonians 5:25). He himself did not cease to pray for them (2 Thessalonians 1:11). He counted on the faithful Lord to strengthen them and to keep them from evil. He also counted on their obedience and that included the simple carrying out of their daily duties. Now some at Thessalonica had stopped working. As the Lord was coming, they reasoned what use was it to cultivate their fields or to concentrate on the business of this present life? The sad result was that they had become busybodies (v. 11; see 1 Timothy 5:13). Paul protests vehemently. Nothing in his teaching could provide a pretext for such disorder (vv. 6, 7, 11; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:11). On the contrary he had worked with his hands as an example in order to be dependent on no one. The supreme example is "the patience of Christ" (v. 5 JND trans.) waiting to present His precious Church to Himself.
With the epistles to the Thessalonians we reach the end of the letters which Paul wrote to seven very different assemblies. Various aspects of Christian life and doctrine are covered in them, from the obtaining of salvation in Romans to the coming glory in Thessalonians. All these teachings are of the greatest value to us. May the Lord grant us to keep them so as to stand fast (2 Thessalonians 2:15).
