CLOSER

My bank offers desk-size calendars for customers, and I use mine to help track a medicine I need to take daily.  A few weeks ago, when the 2019 calendar got replaced by the new 2020 one, I had a quick memory of some dear older folks (like 90s) whose door at a retirement home had a sign: “Perhaps today.” The reference, of course, is to Jesus’ Second Coming. Could it be this year—before all those days get crossed off?

I was reminded of that hope recently as I read Paul’s letters to the Christians at Thessalonica. I read these in different translations, including the late Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message. This time I paused to read Peterson’s introduction, which clarified the historical and cultural background. The Thessalonians really hoped for a soon-Second Coming. Life was hard! But that hope had two possible negative outcomes.  One was paralyzing fear of not being ready for judgment.  The other was a “so-what” attitude that led to what Peterson called “shiftless indolence”—the attitude of “so-what, I may as well indulge myself in sin.” (I know people who think like that, and their hearts are so hard!)

Both of these New Testament letters are packed with encouragement and exhortation, plus some blunt calling-out of lazy and Christ-dishonoring behavior. Two passages stood out for me this time. First Thessalonians 5:14-15 charges believers to show compassionate but tough love to the weak links of the church. That included those who wouldn’t work and who tried the others’ patience. Note the Christ-response to people who wrong and wound us:
  
And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

We may not see them change, but we need to leave the results with the Lord. Then, right across the page, in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, came the spiritual reason for holding on to hope, and for exhorting the backsliders.  Paul said that he and other spiritual leaders (Silas and Timothy are also named) were praying that these folks live worthy of their God-calling through sanctified purpose and righteous, faith-fueled acts. And then the pivoting reason:

We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 12).

There’s a contemporary chorus with the refrain, “Glorify your name in all the earth.”  This isn’t about the beauty of nature, but about the redemption of the fallen nature.  In our daily relationships and choices, as mundane as they may seem, His honor should reign. His coming could be....perhaps today.

Waiting for the Glory

They were greenhouse bargains, and past their prime. When my husband brought home three sickly chrysanthemum plants late last fall, I doubted anything would come of them. Re-planting them in a barrel by our door, I was surprised they were still alive by spring. But all summer, all I saw was a growing mound of leaves. A friend counseled, “Give them time.” A few weeks ago, they burst into glorious color.

Give it time. That counsel also applies as I pray for people who aren’t living for Christ. Some are pre-Christians. Others claim to be Christians, but their behavior negates the label. They’re living for pleasures now, not for God. In learning to pray for them, I’ve taken comfort and clues from the six prayers of the apostle Paul recorded in scripture. His prayer in 2 Thessalonians especially seemed to articulate the concerns I have for my struggling friends.

Paul was writing believers who had fallen into despair, thinking the world would end soon. Many were living in idleness, not even working. Paul wanted them stirred out of lethargy with a fresh vision of what God wanted them to do. Christ still hasn’t come, but He could, any day. I want to be ready, and I want those I care about to be ready, too! In studying Paul’s prayer, I realized it could be broken into seven parts for praying through the week.

SUNDAY:  “We constantly pray for you”--Pray for their constant awareness of God’s care, that He loves them more than they can know and that He hears others’ prayers on their behalf.

            MONDAY: “That our God may count you worthy of his calling”--Pray for a fresh vision of God’s high calling on their lives.

            TUESDAY: “And that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours”—Pray that they may sense a compulsion toward godly living, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

            WEDNESDAY: “And every act prompted by your faith.” Intercede that their creed for life be based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            THURSDAY: “So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you”—Pray that they will copy the example of Jesus, so others will be shown the glory of God through their character.

            FRIDAY: “And you in him”--Ask for conviction of places in their lives (like habits or fears) that they have resisted turning over fully to Christ.

            SATURDAY: “According to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”—Pray for fresh confidence that God is at work in their difficult circumstances and supplying grace for each day.

Consider either tucking this prayer outline into your Bible or copying it into a prayer notebook for a guide in praying for others. And if you’re the one going through difficult times, speak this passage back to God as your own prayer. Even doing so is, as verse 11 says, “an act prompted by your faith,” and God hears.