SCRIPTURE:
“So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.”
1 Thessalonians 2:8
OBSERVATION:
Paul dearly loved the Thessalonians. He saw them as a caring mother looked at her child. The affinity wasn’t just to teach, but to share his life with them. As so often is said in the church – to do life with them. Paul’s love and care for people is a theme that we see throughout the New Testament.
He tells the Galatians to do good to all people (Galatians 6:10). He instructs the Ephesians to build each other up, to be kind, compassionate and forgive one another (Ephesians 4:29,32). He calls on the Philippians to think of others above themselves (Philippians 2:3-4). He says to the Corinthians that what he wants is not their possessions, but them (2 Corinthians 12:14).
He didn’t want to just share his knowledge of God, but his life. He wanted a relationship with them, just as God wants a relationship with us, just as He calls us to have a relationship and love each other.
APPLICATION:
We can so easily forget this part of our lives as believers. That we were built for community. We get so busy with life that we neglect the relationships all around us – #1) With God and #2) With others. Losing focus of the greatest commandment to Love God and Love People. Instead we get focused on the doing, that we neglect who we are becoming. Who God is calling us to be.
And that’s a great place to start.
Who is God calling us to be.
Who is God calling me to be?
I believe it’s what we’ve been focusing on in 2025 – To become a disciple of Jesus. To become more and more like Christ each and every day. To constantly work on myself to become more like Him.
Jesus was a teacher, no doubt, but He also loved people. When I read the Bible, I see a Jesus who realized the importance of relationships. We see him traveling great distances to see those He loved and cared about. He spent time in fellowship with them. He encouraged them and corrected them when He had to. He ate with them. He wept alongside of them. And even when those He was closest to left and betrayed Him, He still loved them and asked God to forgive them.
Each and every time I go to Japan, I find myself constantly on the go. Meeting with people or just spending time in fellowship with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ there, I realize it’s a country so desperate and hungry for relationships, so desperate and hungry for healing…so desperate and hungry for Jesus.
There’s so much that we as believers can learn from our Ohana of believers in Japan. Like the authenticity of living more and more like Jesus and prioritizing relationships above all else.
I need to remember that the greatest commandment to Love God and Love People isn’t just a command, but instructions on how we can live more and more like Jesus, and look more and more like Him each and every day.
PRAYER:
Father Almighty. Forgive me Lord for times when I have neglected the relationships around me. Thank You Lord for reminding me of what is truly important in this life – The relationship I have with You and relationships with others. May I always remember to make them the priorities in this life, this I pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
