Week 6: Faithful or Fallen?

When you look back over your life, do you still have any contact with people who were close to the Lord when you were younger? When I was a child I remember looking up to so many different adults who were in service for the Lord. Some of these were Sunday school teachers, others were preachers, and others were just faithful servants who I saw on a weekly basis who I didn’t have direct personal contact with but yet knew their testimony through their actions. Now that I am older, it is such a blessing to go to church or out in the community and see these people from my childhood still serving the Lord. Yet, at the same time, my heart breaks for those that I have seen fall by the wayside because they have been caught up in the cares of this world.

In I Thessalonians, we read the letter Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica to commend and further encourage them in their faith as he was unable to personally come to visit with them. He was diligent to tell them that their faith was not in vain. He reported to them of his present journey with the Lord and of some of the trials he and his companions (Timothy and Silvanus) had faced because of their service for the Lord. However, in 3:7-8, I am personally touched by Paul’s comments to this church. He states that he and his companions were “comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith: for now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord.”

Now Paul was no doubt the more mature Christian in this situation. However, he and his fellow servants had been through much persecution because of their service for the Lord. I’m certain they faced degrees of persecution that I will never have to worry about facing simply because of the time period and country where I live. Yet, despite his spiritual maturity, I’m sure there were times when he was tempted to be discouraged because of the great persecutions he faced. However, as we read here, Paul tells the people of the church that he and his friends have been comforted by the church’s faith. Don’t you know that when he and his companions heard great stories of service about the people they had taught about the Lord that it so blessed their hearts they were rejuvenated in their own service. That is just what he is expressing in this passage. Paul tells us that he and his companions had faced many persecutions but knowing these people of Thessalonica were strong and continuing in their faith helped give them the needed encouragement and strength to continue persevering in their Christian walk.

There have been times when I have wanted to quit or give up in my own Christian life, times when everything seemed in vain. Then I’d see or remember some dear saint I’d known all my life still running the race and my heart would be blessed to continue on, too.

As I was studying and read this scripture, I penned in my Bible this question, “Can the younger generation say this of me?” Do the children and youth that I encounter see me still running the race of faith? Friend, we never know who is watching us. I mentioned the younger generation, but it may be just a “young” Christian or even a mature one like Paul. Does the life that they see in you or me reflect dedication and commitment to the Lord? Would this life encourage them to keep going for the Lord at times when for all rights and reasons it seems they should throw in the towel? Oh, may we always strive to be like Christ. May all those around us be encouraged by our faith. May we never become like those I mentioned that have disappeared from the scene.

When we look back over our life, may we be able to say like Paul in II Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;” and may that be the testimony others see when they look at us.