The More We Know Him

2 Thessalonians 3:5 – The More We Know Him

Closing remarks. I’ve asked this before, but let me ask again. How many times do you just skim over these last few verses or ignore them altogether? I know that I do it sometimes, but look at these verses carefully. Read them and re-read them because these are some of Paul’s most heart-felt words. Many of these verses were written by his own hand (Paul had a secretary that penned much of what is contained in these letters).

Think about this: “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” We know that is part of the Holy Spirit’s job description – to lead, guide, and direct us. And He does. One of the prophets described it as hearing that still small voice whispering into our spiritual ears saying, “Go this way” (Isaiah 30:21). But Paul prays that He will direct us in two ways: into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

First, what does it mean to be directed into the love of God? The word love is the Greek word agape, and it means the purest kind of self-sacrificing love. It is God’s kind of love. Understand, though, that Paul is writing to Christians, so he isn’t talking about salvation. He wants them to draw closer to God’s love so that they can experience it even more and have a greater appreciation of it. The more we know God loves us, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we love each other. And the more we love each other, the more we know Him (1 John 2:7-11). It’s a “vicious” circle.

And do you want to talk about patience? Forget Job. Look at Jesus. At any moment of His earthly ministry, He could have said, “Father, they aren’t worth it! Let’s just wipe them out and start over.” But He didn’t. Why? Because of His love for us. And the more that we realize that it is only because of God’s amazing grace that He didn’t call 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set Him free, the more we recognize His patience and are then able to reproduce it. That is what lies behind Paul’s prayer: that we might love like God loves and demonstrate the patience of Jesus. That’s what the world needs today. Love that gives itself for their good and the patience that says, “God, I so want you to send Jesus back to take His bride home, but there are so many lost people. Give us one more day to reach as many as we can.”

But try an interesting experiment. Replace the word “patience” with the word “endurance.” It is a viable translation of the Greek word that Paul uses. Notice what Paul is saying now: those who know God and His love and who are directed into the endurance of Christ have the ability to endure everything the world throws at them. Persecution, ridicule, resistance, gossip, backbiting – you name it. You can endure, but only if you know Him.