Daily Devotional • December 14
A Reading from 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18
6 Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11 For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work.12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
14 Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard them as enemies, but admonish them as brothers and sisters.
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.
17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.
Meditation
Weariness is a real part of the human experience. We can hear its influence on people we love when they near that final stretch in their educational journey or their children’s terrible twos. Burnout happens especially for those in the helping professions. Runners have to be intentional and strategic in their races so they can maintain the best pace in those final laps. People get weary, especially when they are striking a fine balance. Think of a tightrope walker getting fatigued — how easy it might be to make a misstep after being up there for long.
In our passage from 2 Thessalonians, the church is prepared for the end to come, for their persecution to end, for Jesus to come back. Perhaps one could see the proclivity to tire in the final stretch, but Paul calls them to be vigilant. They must “not be weary in doing what is right.” They must walk the fine line of admonishing the disobedient among them. It would be easy to either “regard them as enemies” or to ignore what they have done altogether, but God is calling them to confront their brothers and sisters toward obedience.
I think this passage has a lot to say in our present, 21st century context. It is easier to vilify those who are immoral or to make excuses for them, to judge and separate from people without explanation or to just ignore their sin, but Christ calls us to speak the truth in love in order to grow in maturity into the body of Christ. We are part of each other’s sanctification, part of a corporate sanctification. As we await our Lord’s return, may God give us words and inspire our actions to his ends and make us all more like him.
Melissa Amber Patton is a Pittsburgh native, a writer, and an M.Div. student at Trinity Anglican Seminary. She is currently the music leader at Mosaic Anglican Church in Imperial, Pennsylvania and is pursuing ordination with the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Diocese of Kongor – Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan
Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta, Georgia
