How do Afflictions Affect Your Endurance

August 27, 2018

From today’s reading…

Accordingly, we ourselves boast of you in the churches of God regarding your endurance and faith in all your persecutions and the afflictions you endure.

If the Thessalonians had accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior why did they need encouragement?

Why were they being persecuted?

Why were they afflicted?

Why was it not all unicorns, puppies, and rainbows?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Were Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy just coddling them or were the Thessalonians really having a hard time?

Are you having a tough time? Do you find yourself asking why suffering exists and why you must suffer if you have faith?

You and I are not infinite. We are not omnipotent. We are not omnipresent. We are not omniscient. 

So to be means to encounter limits.

To encounter limits means to suffer.

So to exist means to suffer.

To live is to find something for which the suffering is tolerable.

The Thessalonians found God, which made their suffering tolerable and their lives full.

Now you must find a reason to…

Stay the course.Keep the faith.Endure.