Giving thanks to God for signs of Grace (part 2): Increasing love.
The previous blog post encouraged the Thessalonians to give thanks to God for their spiritual growth. Next Paul mentions their growing love for one another. Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4:
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
The Thessalonian’s love for one another was growing. Stemming from God’s indescribable love for them, their shared devotion to Jesus Christ was holding God’s people together.
What is amazing about God’s love is that it pulls together people in a church family that come from varied groups. It is terribly difficult when a church becomes full of resentments and nurtures bitterness. This pitiful reality arises when Christians lose sight of their first and primary allegiance to Christ. Outside of devotion to Christ, there is simply very little in the social, economic, educational, culture, etc., that can change attitudes and hold people together to continue the churches mission.
What’s more when anything trumps God’s love in Christ then another ugly reality raises its blasphemous head: idolatry. When love is professed for Jesus Christ but not mirrored or shown to others who also profess to love the same Jesus Christ, we may legitimately ask how seriously we should take these professions of love for Jesus Christ.
Christians grow in their love for each other because they are loved by Jesus Christ and love him, that growing love is an infallible sign of grace in their lives. As Paul hears reports of the Thessalonians, he is struck by their growing love and he thanks God.