Hurray! We get to move on to the New Testament. We talked about when love turns to hate in 2 Samuel. Now in 1 Thessalonians 2, God gives us courage to love despite loss.
1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. 3 For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit ; 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.
Paul left Philippi and had to start over in Thessalonica. There's a cycle to moving that they teach you in transition assistance classes: things are new and exciting at first, then you have about six months of negative feelings that come in 5 waves. Right now I hate Spain, I despise the ugly scowling Spanish, and I want to give a piece of my mind to the psicologos in the school who sit in their offices contemplating intellectual formation instead of being in the classrooms every week to combat bullying. (Culture shock stage four: comparing the Spanish way to the zero-tolerance American International Schools.) Wyatt has bruised ribs from being thrown down. We spent a weekend practicing counter-moves, but the duck-and-roll wasn't needed and Ramon, the instigator, has been declared "not so bad." Wyatt's friend had berries squished on his head and is now "out sick." Wyatt is resilient, but his friend, not so much. My imagination is running wild with heartbreak and tears for that child. I literally cried all morning. Hazing is part of being new here and we need courage to persevere. Paul says clearly that his boldness to start over and speak loving words comes from God.
While Satan wants to take full advantage of my suffering to whisper lies in my ears, God wants me to examine my motives. In the Philips translation, verse 3 says this about Paul:
1. His message is true.
2. His motive is pure.
3. His conduct is above board.
In whatever change that you are suffering, capture that hissing voice and counter the lies with truth. I'm angry at Wyatt for not being a good friend, angry at the mom for burdening me with her child's suffering, angry that I'm suffering while a school-full of supposedly Christian moms are oblivious. If those are the lies, then what is the truth? The true message is that God loves Spain and sent Jesus to die for Spaniards. And more specifically, that the God-given friendship of these two boys WILL get them through the hard times. My true motives don't stand up to scrutiny. If the friend's mom wanted to be friends with ME, as demonstrated by weekly meetings for coffee, of course I would gladly share her burdens. You see how Satan wants to take away the one friend that I do have.
While I'm not proud of my motives, I congratulate myself on my conduct. That child is surely the most prayed-for child at school today. And as I prayed with my friend and told her that I was willing to meet with her, BUT...she finished my sentence for me, "you don't want there to be pressure." Exactly.
Examine your hearts, my friends, and start loving again today with truth, purity and courage.
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