Constant Explanation - 1 Thessalonians 3

3:1-4 - Coming into chapter 3, we find Paul again explaining apologetically why he can’t personally visit the people. I honestly could not figure out why Paul was always saying, “I really want to come visit but I can’t and here’s why…” until I heard LTJ say something on his lecture that was basically explaining that we get these letters from Paul to these groups of people but writing letters was Paul absolute least favored method of communication. He preferred to meet people in person, face to face. This was 100% the way that he wanted to conduct his business in the gospel. When he couldn’t do that, he would send someone he knew and trusted to visit them, and finally when he couldn’t send someone, he would write a letter. He didn’t like doing it but would when he had to, that’s why so much precious real estate is taken up by his explanations for letters instead of visits. Paul decided that he was fine alone in Athens and sent Timothy to the people in Thessalonica “to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith,” so that they wouldn’t be overcome by their afflictions, “for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.” Paul warned them before he left that tribulations would come and they sure did. The article on this chapter from gospeldoctrine.com quotes D&C 136:31 in which Jesus says, “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.” Basically. it all comes back to “everything will be for your good,” and I struggle with this a lot of times because so much of what happens to people in this life is horrific and unjust and it just seems like there is absolutely no way that those experiences can ever be for our good. But recently I’ve had to come to terms with either I believe this or I don’t, I might not like the way that it’s worded but do I believe that this is true or do I not? And I’ve had to come to the realization that it is true. It has helped me not become so overwhelmed by what happens to other people because I would feel bad for what happened to them but I would get to a point where I couldn’t even function because of the sheer magnitude of the horror of their experience. I’ve recently been able to say to myself, “that is awful what happened to them and I will help in any way that I can, but Jesus is going to have to be in charge of what ever else I can’t do,” and it’s helped a lot. 3:5 - Paul was so anxious for the people in Thessalonica because he had to leave so abruptly and violently that he worried that “the tempter have tempted you, and our labour was in vain.” This raises an interesting concept that I hadn’t considered before. In the article it says, “All Christian religions see the importance of faith, but Paul knew that without continuing leadership, faith could fail. So after assigning Timothy to build up faith, he was anxious to receive a report… He worried that conversion would be pointless if they failed to follow through… Such circumstances show the incompleteness of mere belief in Christ.” What’s interesting to me is that when Paul says that he’s anxious to hear about the faithfulness of a group of people, I always took it to be a subconscious self-gratification like “are they still being obedient to what I taught them?” It wasn’t until I read this explanation that I realized that Paul was not worried about their obedience to HIS teachings, but instead his successfulness in their on-going conversion. He wasn’t worried about his personal importance but his personal responsibility. Not a “are they doing what I told them” as much of a “am I supporting their transition to Christianity as effectively as I need to be?” 3:6-11 - When Timothy came back to Paul and gave him the good news that the saints in Thessalonica were being faithful Paul felt “comforted over you in all our afflictions and distress by your faith.” Not only was Paul a good example to the people but it must have been gratifying for the people to hear that they were good examples to Paul as well. Paul and his companions are praying for a chance to see the saints there and interestingly are praying that they “might perfect that which is lacking in your faith?” I don’t know why that’s a question mark. I think it’s interesting that Paul doesn’t give them one specific aspect of faith to work on but leaves it more open ended. Basically, he puts the responsibility on the individual to figure out where their faith is lacking and to work on it. The Spirit will tell us what we need to work on if we ask Him. But it’s scary, I know that I avoid asking that a lot of times because I don’t want one more thing to have to work on when I feel so overwhelmed with inadequacies already. The article quotes Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, “Increasing our faith, therefore, requires decreasing, one by one, whatever our personal equivocations, reservations, and hesitations are in each of the specific dimensions of faith- those spiritual weaknesses that impede our finally surrendering to the Lord in full faith. By so doing we ‘perfect that which is lacking in (our) faith.” I think that he points out that this is a process, not a one-time fix. He also gives a very powerful quote that really kicked me in the teeth, saying, “With little faith, for example, we may actually acknowledge God’s past blessings but still fear that He will not deliver us in a present situation. Or we may trust that God will finally deliver us but fear He will do so only after a severe trial which we desperately do not want! Such a severe trial may have been in god’s plans all along, but it certainly is not in ours! We don’t like negative surprises.” This was a major wake up for me because this is how I’ve felt for many years. I’ve always believed that God can work miracles, but also that he won’t work them for me and that all he had for me was suffering. I’ve been coming out of that more, I think because I’ve been dealing with a lot of my trauma. I currently am settled on that God can work miracles and that if it is His will he will work them for me. I will accept whatever trials God has instore for me. There’s not a lot of emotion in these beliefs but for me I think that’s a good thing. The desperation has abated currently and I think that the even keeled approach is what’s best for me. Another thing that has helped me get to this point is to look back on my life unemotionally and looked for all the miracles that He’s worked for me along the way. I have been clearly, abundantly, and uniquely blessed and provided for in ways that I didn’t know were important at the time, but here we are and I’m so incredibly grateful. I think it’s hard when we are all caught up in emotions and desperation to see things clearly enough to recognize God’s hand in our lives a lot of times, but when we can take a step back and finally see a little bit, seeing miracles in the past helps us remain optimistic about miracles in our future. 3:12-13 – Part of this increase of faith that Paul wants them to work on is “abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.” I’ve been working on this as well, when I find myself having negative feeling about someone or a group of people, I stop myself and think about what’s really going on with my feelings towards them. Sometimes I can reason myself out of it by saying, “they were going through some hard times, they were just coping the best way that they knew how.” Sometimes it has to be more mechanical like “you serve those you love, and you love those you serve,” so I try to do something nice for them. A lot of times I have to ask myself, “have you never been guilty on something stupid? Have you never irritated someone else?” Then I can get over my speedbump of negativity towards someone. Sometimes I just have to stop and tell myself, “God loves them as much as he loves you, how would he act in this situation?” It’s a process and like all things it takes practice, but the more effort we put into loving and being kind to others, the more natural it becomes over time.