2 THESSALONIANS 1:11

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

TO PONDER 

Look closely at the text for today. How much work is involved for us there? How much stuff do we need to do to be worthy of his calling? 

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Let’s look again at the text with the pro-nouns highlighted.

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.

It’s about the direction. All from God. All from above. All the work here is initiated by God, and then he gives us room to respond. Nothing about me or striving to achieve or having to work harder. It’s all one-directional. 

And then the final three words, prompted by faith, is our bit. After God has done the heavy lifting, we can thank him, by watching our words and behaviour, assisting others, connecting with the non-churched, and despite the difficulty, respecting and showing love to all. 

Let’s see if we can make 2024 a year where we respond to God’s unconditional love by our words and actions.   

PRAYER:Thank you, gracious God, for giving us faith. When we don’t respond as we ought, prompt us again. Thank you for your patience, and tolerance, and opportunities you give us to respond again and again. Amen    

Today's devotion written by Mark Simpfendorfer, LifeWay Epping.