Persecution is Bound to Come

I once read about a young blind girl from France who was given a New Testament in raised letters. She was so excited and read it so much that the tips of her fingers became very calloused so that she could no longer feel the characters. She started crying because now she couldn’t … More

Desire

This passage can be divided into two topics:

  1. The Word of God within you (v. 13). We must never treat the Bible as we would some other book. This verse communicates the idea that the Word of God is to be taken by us. It means to welcome eagerly. When we receive the Bible, we’re saying that we acknowledge its authority. When we accept it, we are allowing it into our hearts so that we can be changed by it. We should never say, “I know what the Bible says, but...” If we know what the Bible says, then there’s no “but.” We should say, “I know what the Bible says, period.” How can we say we believe the Bible and accept its authority if we do not spend time daily in the Word? Too many people have substituted entertainment for the preaching and teaching of God’s Word.
  2. The enemies of God upon you (vv. 14-16). Just as the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were persecuted, so were the Gentile Christians persecuted in Thessalonica. When the Word of God is within us, the enemies of God will be upon us. If you believe the Bible you are going to have some enemies. One of the evidences that God’s Word continues to work is that believers all around the world experience affliction and suffer persecution. Every generation of Christian has known persecution and martyrdom. “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ to not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for Him” (Phil. 1:29). “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted: (I Tim. 3:12).

Application

Would I rather have the Bible than food, money, or sleep? My desire for loving and serving the Lord can be measured by my desire to read and study the Word on a daily basis.

I Thessalonians 2:13-16 (English Standard Version)


Warning: MagpieRSS: Failed to parse RSS file. (Space required at line 39, column 24) in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/magpie6-1/rss_fetch.inc on line 230

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in /var/www/html/familytimes/includes/rss/esvLookup.php on line 15

View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »