WORK, LABOR, AND PATIENCE
1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
And now abides faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. That is from 1 Corinthians 13:13 found in the great love chapter. I find it interesting that Paul uses these three again in relation to serving the Lord and serving the Body of Christ. The Amplified Classic gives us our verse for today as follows, “Recalling unceasingly before our God and Father your work energized by faith and service motivated by love and unwavering hope in [the return of] our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah).”
Since the greatest of these is love, let’s start with that one. If you and I are going to serve people long term, we are going to have to do it with the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. You can’t just serve people because they need to be served. You have to do it with the love of God that has been given to you; and you have to do it because you love the Lord and appreciate everything He has done for you. If you ever get weary of serving, doing things for people, and even weary with church, you have gotten into the flesh and are serving by your flesh. I know, many times, I have put my flesh under because I didn’t feel like serving anyone that day, but I tapped into the love that God puts in my heart for people, His Kingdom, and His things, and was able to do it with joy.
It takes work to get the things done that are necessary for the advancement of the Kingdom of God locally and globally too. CWOL has a part in that; therefore, every one of you have a part in that. There is work to do, and not just paid staff work, but volunteer work. If you say, “I thought we were not supposed to work for our salvation.” That is true. You can only be saved by grace through faith, but work? Oh yah, there is plenty of that to do within the church, locally and around the globe. And you can only do the work that the Lord has prepared for you to do (Ephesians 2:10) by faith. You have to do everything you do by trusting God. If you begin to do it from your flesh, you will get weary. I decided a long time ago that I would be willing and obedient so I could eat the good of the land; and I thank God for all the good I have in my life. How did that happen? I tried my best to do it all by faith. I want to please God, and I cannot do everything I must do in my strength, so I decided not to do any of it in my strength.
In order to continue, we all must have unwavering hope in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. I look forward to the coming of the Lord, and we must all continue to have faith, hope, and love. So, let’s work, labor, and be patient because the Lord is watching each one of us.