March 10 - 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10

March 10 - 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10

But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

One of my commentaries says that the trip from Athens to Thessalonica was about 220 miles.  A trip like that would have taken ten to eleven days.  My goodness, we can do an entire vacation in that amount of time today. Paul left Athens to go on to Corinth, so if we think that Timothy stayed in Thessalonica for maybe a week, then back to Athens and on to Corinth, it would have been longer than a month Paul waited to hear about how things were going in this church he loved so much.

One of my favorite book series was and still is “Little House on the Prairie.” I was always astonished at the amount of time it took messages to get back and forth between families and how long it took for people to travel.  The automobile certainly changed the way we look at life.  All of the technological advances that have continued to occur have sped up our access to information and knowledge so that within moments of something happening, we not only are made aware of it, but millions of people have made their opinions known as well.

Paul rejoiced when he heard the news of the Thessalonian church from Timothy.  They were standing fast in the Lord in the face of terrible persecution. He was able to finally relax, knowing that God’s people had held on and were growing stronger. Though his prayers had been answered, he continued to pray that he might be able to return and help them take their next steps in coming closer to God.