Are You Growing in Faith and Love?

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 (NET) We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater. As a result we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you are enduring.

Gregory received Jesus Christ as his Lord because he was surrounded by challenges and coming to Jesus truly brought him relief. But as he studied the Bible, he found out that there were men who died because of their faith in Christ. What is the difference between me and these other persons? He would ask. Wanting to answer this question, he began to study how the Apostles of Christ lived and he soon discovered that they all had something in common: they all endured persecutions.

If all you know about God are his gifts and benevolence, you certainly are a child. Every responsible adult has responsibilities, most of which would require some level of endurance. An Adult son of God might willingly go through pain not because he cannot escape, but because he knows that his pain will bring relief, succor, and freedom to other children of God.

The way to know that you are growing in faith and love is by measuring how much you are willing and able to give and endure for Christ. It is through men such as this that God’s power is made manifest in its fullness.

If you desire God’s power in its undiluted form, you must be willing to endure anything for Christ (see Romans 8:17, 2 Timothy 2:12).

Meditate on Mark 10:29-31 as you go about your business today.

‘‘And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s. But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.

Prayer: I receive grace to grow in faith and love in Jesus’ name, Amen.

—Dr. Emmanuel James

Bible in One Year: II Corinthians 9-10

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