ARE YOU STANDING FIRM
FINDING ASSURANCE AND STRENGTH IN THE GOSPEL
During my quiet time last week, I wrote down some of my thoughts on this passage, which turned into many thoughts. These thoughts led me to verses throughout the Bible, and as always, I walked away with more knowledge and a deeper love for Him.
I share my thoughts/notes daily in the joyfully HIS Private community, but this is an expanded version of one that I pray will bring you comfort and hope today and everyone that follows.
Paul’s thankfulness for the Thessalonian believers is directed at God for the work that He is doing in them. It’s not about what we are doing but the mighty work God is doing in us. Paul tells them that God chose them “as firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Some translations say, “chose you from the beginning.” If you flipped back to the Old Testament, you would find “firstfruits” in Exodus 23:19 and Deuteronomy 18:4 to be the first part of their harvest of produce and the best part. Essentially, Paul is saying that from the beginning, before they were ever born, they were chosen by God to believe and trust in Him and be saved. And while we are all chosen by God as His people, it is our responsibility to believe and trust in the truth of the Gospel.
I wish I could recall where I read this, but it was a simple truth that has stuck with me. We are either being sanctified by the power of the Spirit working in us or perishing because we have chosen not to accept the Gospel and live in light of it. Through sanctification, we are being made holy one little moment at a time—not through our own power but through the Spirit.
Our responsibility is to accept and believe the Gospel. Those who reject it are going in the opposite direction —they are being transformed one little moment at a time into the norms and evils of this world that their flesh desires. These are the ones who live for what feels good and right and what brings the most ease and enjoyment to their lives.
As I went back and reread this passage, I thought for a moment, “Paul is speaking to those who have been saved, so why is he going back to an explanation of salvation?” But as I glanced back to the heading, I realized that Paul isn’t offering a lesson on salvation—they know what that is. He is reminding them that because they have been saved by God, they are to live and walk in the assurance of it. They are to “stand firm.” Standing firm reveals that they will face tensions and struggles, but they are to plant themselves in what they have been taught and the foundation laid for them in all circumstances.
As Christians, there is no doubt that this life will bring about struggles and tensions because of the evil that exists here. But be comforted because we don’t walk through these moments alone. Verses 16-17 assure us that God loves us and “gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace.” This is the hope that gives us the strength to persevere.
I don’t know where, or what perspective you are reading this from today, but whether you are reading it from the highest of the mountaintops or the lowest depths of the valley, the truth behind it is the same and always will be. We were chosen by God from the beginning so that we will trust and believe in Him and His truth, and then we will live in light of it. We will walk with confident assurance on good days and bad, resting in the eternal comfort and good hope that we have because of His Free Gift of Grace.
Joyfully HIS,
Jennifer N. Pearson