1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Today's passage had me asking, "Who is the "you" Paul was talking to?" I was so intrigued as to what the answer was I actually read the entire chapter of 1 Thessalonians 3 to get a better idea. I was interested in the answer because it became obvious, in this week of focusing on hope, that Paul had put immense hope in whoever this person was.
This led me to ask myself, "Who do I put my hope in?" Who is it that I look towards in making my expectations of better things come true? The more I consider this question, the more I realize it isn't one single person. In fact the answer is a community so large that it would take several pages to list them here.
My life is a culmination of everything, and everyone, that has come into it. Since my history is 50 years and a few months old I have a lot. If I sit and think even more about it I am also a part of all of those things and people too. You see how this line of thinking can begin to get unwound quickly.
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that it was their church that was to be praised and in which lay the hope of abounding love for one another and for all. To Paul, however, the church was not a building where people met every Sunday to talk with others, go to Bible study, meet in committees, and mingle in coffee hours. To Paul, the church was everyone and everything.
This brings my thinking to one conclusion: Our hope cannot be put into a box and handed out to those we think have a purpose in making our hope come true, our hope is meant to be spread to all people and all things so that all of creation can share in it.
What a concept, don't you think?
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