2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

Into this we also pray always regarding you all: in order that our God should regard you all worthy of the calling and fulfill both every good thing that pleases Him and every work of faith in His power so that the name of our Lord Jesus should be glorified in you all – and you all in Him – according to the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

I always marvel at Paul’s focus when he writes about what he prays for.  More often than not, Paul is praying with respect to the eternal salvation of another person.  Only sparingly do we find Paul praying for truly temporal needs.  I don’t mean this to imply that we shouldn’t pray for the temporal needs of others.  Of course we should.  But as often as we are praying for the temporal needs of others we should be mindful of the eternal condition of the other person’s soul.  We should be praying with an eternal mindset, not a temporal one.

When you pray, where is your focus?  Why is it easy to focus on the temporal needs of others?  Why is it easy to overlook the eternal needs in prayer? 

Second Thought:

Here is a neat thought.  Christ is glorified in us as we are glorified in Him.  If we think about this, doesn’t this make sense?  Doesn’t a teacher truly find glory in the students that come out from their tutelage?  Doesn’t a master craftsman truly find glory in the ability of their apprentices?  Why should a Lord find glory in His disciples?  But the other direction makes sense, too.  Does not a good student find glory in the teacher?  Does not a good apprentice find glory in the master craftsman?  Why shouldn’t the disciples find glory in the Lord, too?

How does it feel to realize that you will find glory in Christ?  How does it feel to know that Christ will find glory in you?

Third Thought:

Of course, as we close this initial chapter we find another great truth that we should remember.  All of this happens according to the grace of God.  Once more we a reminded that we don’t deserve glory in Christ.  We don’t deserve to be glorified in Christ, either.  We don’t deserve any of it.  We get it because God is gracious, plain and simple.

Is God gracious to you?  How do you know?

Passage for Tomorrow: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2