2 Thessalonians 2:13-17
Isn’t it great to be chosen? Isn’t it great to be handpicked, hand selected for a specific reason and purpose?
In this section of Paul’s letter to the church in Thessalonica, Paul is emphasizing a point that he has made in other writings about how God has faithfully chosen his people. He has chosen his people not based on merit or achievement but based on his own love and grace.
God has chosen us, and God has chosen you. How special is that to hear? It is likely something that we need to hear more often. Let’s say that again, “God loves me and has chosen me.” He loves us so much that he died for us. Does that bring you comfort and joy? Advent is a time that we remember how incredible it is that God has chosen us. That in his love, came down from heaven for the redemption of the world.
As Paul says in verses 16 and 17, “may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.” The work in our hearts effects the work in our lives. Everything is changed by the grace and love that God gives us. God takes the pressure of being perfect and working to be good enough to be chosen and places it on himself. (I hope and pray that you literally feel weight lifted off your shoulders)
May this Advent, this Christmas, be a time to pause and rest in the comfort and hope of being so greatly loved by Jesus that it stirs our hearts and minds and is reflected in all areas of life.
- Jon Henson
Reflection:
1. Take a moment to reflect on what it means to be chosen by God.
2. Reflect on how being chosen changes or effects the purpose of you everyday life.
For Families:
-What types of talents or traits would you look for in: a pitcher for your baseball team, an artist for a school mural, a family dog, or a mechanic to fix your car? All of these people (except the family dog!) had to work hard to be chosen for their jobs. There are things that you will work hard for in your life too, but one thing that you don’t have to work for is God’s love. He already chose you, before you ever spoke a word, created a masterpiece, or crushed a test at school. He loved you before you could do anything; he chose you because he loves you. He loves who were, who you are now and who you will be in the future, and nothing you do can change that. Do you think you can find a love like that anywhere else?
--Father, you were and are our first Father, who loved us from the beginning of time and who teaches us what love really is. If you love us and choose us, what else can we want? Help us to not get weighed down by the lies of this world, the world that tries to tear us down when really, we are sons and daughters of the King of Kings, our Beginning, our End, our Forever Love. Amen.