2 Thessalonians 1
1Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3We 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. 4Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
5All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
11With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.[b]
Footnotes:
[a] 2 Thessalonians 1:1 Greek Silvanus, a variant of Silas
[b] 2 Thessalonians 1:12 Or God and Lord, Jesus Christ
3 comments:
2 Thes 1
8He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
I think we may have touched on this before, but with two impending births, one thing I've always assumed, but I'm not quite sure about: are our infants who don't know God included in the above? I know God is loving and I understand, and maybe I'm getting legalistic/technical, but I know most of us hadn't found Christ until we were 7/10/21/older, so are our little ones in the clear? Is there a passage that explains this? I ask because of the above passage and the two impending births among us.
Father, please watch over Stacie and Eric today. When Your will calls for it, let the delivery be smooth and as painless as possible. Let Your and their newest addition bring light into this world and remind all of us of Your incredible goodness and child-like nature. Thank You for your loving, watchful eye, and thank You for having an amazing community of believers for this child to be born into. Father we also ask that you continue to watch over jrs. Give him guidance and understanding, and help him to feel the love that his family and You have for him. Please watch over Tim and Sheree's engagement, give them patience with the detail stuff, and don't let it cloud this joyful time. Keep those of us at work this morning focused on You, and to do the work we need to do productively, for You. We ask all these things in Jesus' amazing name,
Amen
crb
crb...i've been thinking about this and not exactly sure...can only paraphrase what i have been told...so this is really a weak effort but, i have always understood it that children would be taken to heaven should they die....reason? well, it's really more of what God/Jesus showed/demonstrated while on earth...there are many stories of Him exemplifying a special love for children that seems to be a different form of love than what he showed adults. The kind of love that makes me think that children, in their innocence and purity, would be part of God's kingdom. like i said, this isnt really much of an answer. curious what the "real" answer is.
crb,
i guess this all about the age of accountability right? you have to believe that those who can not understand and make that type of decision are provided for in some other fashion. Not real scriptural based, but hopefully right.
2 thes 1
This is pretty heavy stuff. The short for me is that we should do all we can to give those who have not heard the word a chance. Like a buddy of mine said the other day, how would we feel if we looked across the great chasm and saw a friend or acquaintance and they yelled back across “you knew this all along, (imagine a pause here) why didn’t you tell me?” I just pray for Paul’s courage.
Father. we all have things we are going through, I lift these things up to you and pray that your will be done. Help us to grow stronger and to become more and more like Your SON!
IN Christ,
cas
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