1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

And we ask you all, brothers and sisters, to honor the ones who work in you all and who directed you all in the Lord and who instruct you all and to regard them with a great degree in love because of their work.  Live at peace with them all.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Honor.  Respect.  Hold in high regard.  This is what our opinion should be of our mentors and those in authority over us.  In many cases, this is true.  Do we honor our spiritual mentors?  Typically.  But what about those to whom we don’t voluntarily submit ourselves?  Do I honor the police?  Do I honor my president, Congress, and state government whom I don’t genuinely think lives their life in the same ethic as I do?  Do I honor my parents all the time?  Do I honor my teachers or professors who assign me grades?  Sometimes it is easy to give honor.  Sometimes it is difficult to give honor.

Where do you give honor?  Where do you hold back your honor?  Do you have people in your life who are in the Lord whom you should honor but don’t?

Second Thought:

Regard in a great amount of love.  Paul steps the need to honor up a bit.  Yes, we are to honor them.  But we are also to love them with a great amount of love.  But it’s even more than that.  We are to honor them with a great deal of love because of their work.  We are to love the police officer who pulls us over for speeding because he is keeping the street safe.  We are to love our parent who sends us to our room because they are keeping us safe.  We are to love the spiritual mentor who calls out our sinfulness for what it is and gives us opportunity to grow.

Is it easy for you to love the work of the authorities in your life?  When is this easy?  What can make it difficult?

Third Thought:

Paul’s advice is to live at peace with those who are working in us.  Doesn’t this really make sense?  If someone wants the best for me, doesn’t it make sense to live peacefully with them?  Why resist those who genuinely are looking to cause me to grow and become a stronger and better person?  No.  We resist those who are over us not because they have bad intent but because we don’t want them to be over us.  Paul is advocating that we stop being so intent on our independence and be willing to place ourselves into God’s hands and those whom God has asked to watch over us.

Do you live at peace with the authorities in your life?  What makes this easy?  What makes this difficult?

Passage for Tomorrow: 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15