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I Thessalonians 1:2-3, 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.

This is a pastoral letter from Paul, Timothy, and Silas, to the church at Thessalonica.  The authors are together in Corinth when they get the news of how faithful the Thessalonians have been in spite of intense persecution.  This is a letter of encouragement.

It was normal in an ancient letter to include some kind of prayer for the recipient after the greeting.  We see that in today's focus verses.  The authors state that they continually thank God for all the people in the church, and that they remember them before God because of their work produced through faith and love and their endurance inspired by hope in Jesus.

I am most intrigued by the line "endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Endurance is the ability to keep going, to persevere, in the face of difficulty and suffering.  We don't know exactly what kind of persecution the Thessalonian Christians were facing but it must have been pretty bad.  And Paul was worried about them.  They were new believers - how would they withstand these hardships?  Would their faith crumble or strengthen?  Apparently, they remained strong and steadfast, despite their limited experience in the faith.  This idea of endurance through hardship becomes a virtue in the early church.  Here is the important part: their endurance was not a result of some kind of internal emotional strength or resolve but was due to their hope in Jesus.  Their hope was rooted in the second coming of Jesus, which will become a theme throughout this letter.

Think about your own life.  How would you rate your endurance in the face of hardship?  While we don't face the same kind of persecution as the Thessalonian church, we still deal with other challenges.  Especially at this time of year, things can seem really heavy.  How is your faith grounded in the hope of Christ? 

Let's pray...Lord Jesus, We need you.  This world is hard and exhausting.  We need to remain focused on you; true hope and joy are rooted in you and you alone.  Help us be beacons of hope for those in our families and communities this season.  More of you, less of me.  In Your Name, Amen.