09/10/2011 - COMPLETE CHANGE

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For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

I Thessalonians 1:9-10

So glorious and unique was the way that Paul and his team had the Thessalonians to understand the Gospel and thus change their lives that it served as an example for all of Macedonia and Achaia (verse 7). Well, we must be careful, prudent and wise when taking the message of the Lord to the needy, because in so doing we will be giving the ones who receive the Word of God an example to be talked about and followed.

Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians that he did not seek to know anything about those brothers, but about Jesus Christ who died on the cross (I Corinthians 2:2). Through his preaching, the Apostle did not condemn people but with wisdom he showed them the divine promises and used the authority bestowed by the Lord on His servants. By our witness, we must act the same way, being firm and not going beyond what is written in the Word. For Paul, the Gospel was the power of God, and so it must be for us!

By the account given in the previous verses, we understand that the people of those places were idolaters but they were delivered from that practice with wisdom. My brethren, idolatry is one of the worst actions of the devil because those who practice it go to the point of worshiping an image or a person as if it were someone special when in fact they should only worship God (Matthew 4:10b). We must teach people that the Almighty teaches the following truth: we are not special and neither should we be considered as such, therefore we cannot be served or revered as someone important.

Paul’s lesson was accepted by the brethren in Thessalonica, who abandoned the idols to serve the living and true God. That apostle and those who followed him felt a great joy when they beheld the transformation of the Thessalonians! But be careful! Some people that the

Most High puts under our care have a history of prostitution, adultery and other dishonest acts. Therefore, we must be of sound mind in order not to be carried away by the temptation of getting involved in the habits of these people.

Paul instructed those people to remain firm and await the coming of the Son of God. This teaching has been in disuse nowadays because many live as if the world would last forever. In a sense, some Christians act in a way that is worse than unbelievers, because they are seeking prosperity in order to get rich but not to take the Gospel to the lost ones. If they could, they would not even give tithes to the Lord.

The work must be complete. That means we need to introduce the lost to Christ\’s resurrection, because through it we too have been raised. If Jesus had not conquered death, we would be stuck in our sins – and without this knowledge, we would not become holy and our service to the Lord would be limited. Those people, however, believed in the wrath to come; then, to receive the divine deliverance they decided to promote a real change in their life. Have you thought about it?

In Christ with love,

R. R. Soares