“May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17. Encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good word and deed.”
Some verses in the New Testament paint a portrait for us about our relationship with Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 does this for us. Let’s put our brush to the canvas and see what comes of it. We have a relationship with Jesus because of God’s love for us. God’s love for us through Jesus is a fact that cannot be removed from the portrait. Without God’s love for us, none of what we have in Jesus would be possible. John reminds us of this truth in 1 John 4:9-10: “In this was manifested (revealed) the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. 10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to the propitiation for our sins.” The big word “propitiation” reminds us that Christ took our sins upon Himself on the cross, making it possible for us to be saved. The conclusion that you must come to at this point is that God loves you. We have a relationship with Jesus because of God’s grace. A good definition of grace is that we don’t deserve His love and the salvation that God gives through Christ, but He gives it to us anyway. Without grace we would be eternally lost. The Bible tells us that not a one of us is good enough to be saved on our own. Jesus died on the cross for us in order for us to be able to live for Him now and spend eternity with Him in the future. He did this not because we deserved it, but because we needed it. Don’t ever underestimate the power of God’s grace. Thank Him for His grace, because without it you could not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. We have a relationship with Jesus for encouragement and hope. When we accept Jesus by faith into our lives, He sends His Spirit to live within us who gives us encouragement and hope. Life can be tough sometimes, and it surely was for the Thessalonians because of the persecution that they were experiencing. We have tough times too, and they will get tougher, but because of our relationship with Christ we should not despair and give up. The KJV translates encouragement as “consolation.” I love that word because it tells us that in encouraging us, God consoles us by His presence day-by-day no matter what is going on in our lives. I know that the world situation looks bleak to us today, but we are not hopeless and we are not without encouragement and consolation. Satan wants to discourage us and make us give up because of opposition to the glorious gospel that we believe in and serve. Don’t let him get by with that. Even in the midst of the bleakness of the unbelieving world, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, encourages us and gives us hope. Apply this to your life. It is not a wish; it is a fact! We have a relationship with Jesus, so that we can be strengthened “in every good word and deed.” The presence of Jesus in our lives assures us that we have God’s strength in our lives, and that He will strengthen us in what we say and what we do. According to Ephesians 2:10, we have been saved by grace through faith, and have become “His workmanship created through Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” Jesus makes a difference in what we say and do. There is our portrait of our relationship with Christ.. Believe it! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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