Trio of the good life

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

TO CHEW ON: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and Father." 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

What an encouraging start to a letter! We all love to be told that we're making our leaders proud, that they're praying for us, that they've observed good qualities in us, and have noticed our spiritual progress.

The three things Paul names—his readers' work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope—occur together in other places in the Bible. Note their appearance in

~ Romans 5:15

~ 1 Corinthians 13:13

~ Galatians 5:5-6

~ Colossians 1:4-5

~ Hebrews 10:22-24.

A commentary article in my Bible draws attention to the fact that these three things make up a large portion of Godly living:

"Godly living is characterized by a life lived to please God. Through Jesus' sacrifice we have already found favour in God's sight; therefore we are to live a life that reflects that favour. Like Jesus, our work is to flow from faith and love, honouring God in all that we do...


Understand that Godly living includes: 1] work that flows from faith, 2] labor that flows from love, and 3] patient endurance that flows from living hope" - Leslyn Musch, "Truth-In-Action Through 1 Thessalonians," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1689 (emphasis added).

So as you and I go through the humdrum activities of this day, let's do those dishes, care for those babies, attend those meetings, work those jack hammers, coffee grinders, and cash registers with the awareness that our mundane jobs have big significance as we do them with faith, hope, and love before our appreciative Audience.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to link my ordinary activities, my labor and my leisure, with the knowledge that You see and approve...or prick me where You don't. Amen.


MORE: Audience of One

“Only madmen, geniuses, and supreme egotists do things purely for themselves. It is easy to buck a crowd, not too hard to march to a different drummer. But it is truly difficult–perhaps impossible–to march only to your own drumbeat. Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience or other. The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have.

This observation underscores another vital feature of the truth of calling: A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others" – Os Guinness, The Call, p. 70