May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
This tells us of what we need to know, and what we too easily forget.
That we are amazingly loved by an amazing God.
So today reflect on this, for if this is true, then this changes us.
Firstly, the love of God gives us eternal encouragement.
So be encouraged that you are not alone. That God wants to be in fellowship with you. That God desires that you be with him forever. That you are loved today and every day by the God who cannot love you any more than he does right now, and he will not love you any less than he does RIGHT NOW.
Secondly, the love of God gives us a grace filled hope.
Hope that God is with us on this journey. Hope that there will be a day when the suffering, sadness and sorrow will end. And while that day is not today, we also have hope in the One, who when he came to visit us, he showed that he had authority to help us in our present suffering, sadness and sorrow.
Thirdly, the love of God gives us eternal peace or ‘comfort for our heart ‘.
Peace in the face of trial, temptation and turmoil. Peace, that might not mean an end to the trials, the temptations, and the turmoils, but peace to help us endure and persevere through them.
And fourthly, the love of God is a brilliant light in our life, so that we might be a shining light into the lives of others in what we say and do.
Just like the moon reflects the light that comes from the sun, we are called to be reflectors of the light of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
That the glory of God would overflow from our hearts so that others would see that God is indeed glorious.
So today, wherever you go, may you be so filled with love, hope, peace and light, that your life, in speech and actions, would be an encouragement and a blessing to those around you. That we would point people to Jesus.
I’m praying for you