Looking Back... Looking Ahead

“We pray that God our Father will greatly increase your love for each other and for everyone else, just as we love you.  Then he will strengthen you to be holy.  Then you will be blameless in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all God’s holy people.”          (I Thessalonians 3:12-13 – God’s Word ©)

As I began to study in the Word this morning with an eye toward the rapidly concluding calendar year, I was drawn through one of my commentaries to I Thessalonians 3:12-13.  In these verses Paul is praying from the heart to the people of Thessalonica.  It would seem that his greatest desire for this congregation concerned the importance of the establishment of their hearts in the love of God.  The more I meditated on these verses, the more convinced I became that this is the key to completing 2012 with a strong run and successfully step into 2013!

John Darby’s Synopsis of the Bible encourages us to: “Observe also that love makes us rise above the difficulties, the persecutions, the fears, which the enemy seeks to produce.  Occupied with God, happy in Him, this weight of affliction is not felt.”  There are many things in each of our lives that we can concern ourselves with, but the greatest of these is love!  Walking in God’s love toward others and maybe most importantly toward ourselves, is vital as we face the ever increasing distractions in our world.  The Bible tells us that the problems in this world are only going to get worse, so what good does it do for us to focus our attention on the news rather than on our heavenly Father and the truth and faithfulness of His Word?

I Thessalonians 3:13 informs us that as we are established in His love, He is able to strengthen us to be who and what we need to be in our daily lives.  Yes, the specific context of the verse is talking about holiness, but other Biblical witnesses will confirm that the establishment of His love will cause us to fully mature into the man or women that He has called us to be.

I would whole heartedly encourage you over this last weekend of 2012 to spend some precious time alone with your heavenly Father.  Take those special moments to allow the love that He has for YOU to saturate your very being.  Reconnect with Him and let Him re-establish you in His love, and then commit the giving of your love back to Him.  Thank Him for the good and the not so good that you experienced in this last year and look forward with GREAT EXPECTATIONS to His victories in your life in the New Year ahead!

Have a great weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What GOOD THINGS am I expecting today?”