1 Thessalonians 1:1-7 (NIV)

Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

When receiving a text, we typically focus on the text and the message it brings.

Before text, there was mail. You know the pen to paper kinda mail that the mailman delivered to your home and put in your mailbox? Then the phone came along, which we used for talking instead of writing. Then email became the way to communicate. Faster than mail and so much easier to use instead of writing, and you didn’t even have to actually talk to the person. I mean, life is so busy, right? Then text messaging took over, and that meant you could type a text message on your phone, send it, and in seconds, you had a response. No human interaction via a phone call. No waiting for them to read your email and respond. That could take a couple of days, depending on how busy the person was. But when text messaging came along, we all lost our minds. It was magical.

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However, (there’s that however word which never means anything good), I guess it seemed that texting full words or a series of words took entirely too much time. Remember, we’re so busy, right? In their place, we began using acronyms.

IMHO (In My Humble Opinion)

IDK (I Don’t Know)

BTW (By The Way)

BFF (Best Friends Forever)

GR8 (Great)

LOL (Laughing Out Loud)

TBH (To Be Honest)

SMH (Shaking My Head)

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

Keep in mind, this is the new text lingo, and you must understand it to communicate properly.

Mark Twain is quoted as saying, “It’s not the parts I don’t understand, it’s the parts I do.

Fits perfectly, doesn’t it? That guy, Mark Twain, knew a thing or two.

Here’s what’s interesting. The original definition of the word text refers to the main body of written or printed words on a page, or the original words of a work. And that’s the first definition everywhere—Merriam-Webster, The Cambridge English Dictionary, Dictionary.com, American English-Collins Dictionary, and Wordsmyth. Text, as in text messaging, comes in third.

This Blog is titled Be A Good Example. How many of us remember our parents telling us to always be a good example? Don’t follow along with the rest of the group. You be a good example, and people will follow you. As a teen, I understood it, but it always seemed much harder to adhere to it. It appeared our parents wanted us to be the odd ones out, and that doesn’t sit well with teens. The good news is that there are some who actually accomplish it and are good examples.

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In our scripture, this letter is so vital because Thessalonica (ancient) or Thessaloniki (modern) was an important city. Paul, Silas, and Timothy were missionaries. Paul loved this church in Thessalonica. This is a story that we read about in Acts 17. Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica. After only about a month of them telling the people about Jesus, a large number of the Jewish and Greek people gave their allegiance to Jesus. This is where they formed the first church community. When Paul announced the news of the risen Jesus as the true Lord of the world, it led to a lot of suspicion. So when the Christians of Thessalonica said there was another King named Jesus, they were accused of defying Caesar, the Roman Emperor. This led to persecution that was so intense and violent that Paul and Silas had to flee. It was excruciatingly painful for them because they loved the people of the church so much.

This is Paul’s letter to them, trying to reconnect after he heard from Timothy that they were not only doing well but they were flourishing even with the horrible persecution. We can see through this letter how very proud Paul is of them, and he speaks of them as being good examples.

Here are three things that Paul shared with the people of the church, and it shows us how to be good examples as they were.

1. He wrote to encourage them and to offer them guidance if there was some confusion as to the second coming. He encouraged them to continue to work and not just sit and wait.
   
2. Work of faith and labor of love. Like how parents work to help their kids become good people and provide the resources for them to do things that will help them.
   
3. He thanked God for their steadfast hope. They were facing great difficulties, and yet they had hope because they knew that God loved them and was there holding them up.
   

Many of the Thessalonians began to imitate the disciples and then Jesus. It caused them to become examples themselves. They were filled with joy regardless of the day, good or bad. It’s a peace that passes all understanding.

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Where do you sit in your faith? Are you filled with joy regardless of what the day might bring? More importantly, are you the example that others aspire to be?

And that’s what I learned in Church……see ya next time!