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Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 2 Thessalonians 3
Set – 2 Chronicles 2; 2 Thessalonians 3
Go! – 1 Kings 4-5; 2 Chronicles 2; Psalms 101; 2 Thessalonians 3
2 Thessalonians 3
1 Brothers and sisters, having shared all this, let me ask you to pray for us. Pray that this message of the Lord will spread quickly and receive the praise and respect it deserves from others as it has with you. 2 Pray also that we would all be rescued from the snares of harmful, wicked people—after all, not all people are believing. 3 Still, the Lord is true to His promises; He will hold you up and guard you against the evil one. 4 We do not doubt the Lord’s intentions for you; we are confident that you are carrying out, and will continue to carry out, the commands we are sending your way. 5 May the Lord guide your hearts into God’s pure love and keep you headed straight into the strong and sure grip of the Anointed One.6 For the sake of the church, brothers and sisters, we insist in the name of our Lord Jesus the Anointed that you withdraw from any brother or sister who is out of order and unwilling to work, who is straying from the line of teaching we passed on to all of you. 7 You know how essential it is to imitate us in the way we live life. We were never undisciplined 8 nor did we take charity from anyone while we were with you. Instead, you saw how we worked very hard day and night so we wouldn’t be a burden to even one person in the community. 9 We had the right to depend on your help and hospitality, as you know; but we wanted to give you a model you could follow, to lay a path of footprints for you to walk in. 10 This is exactly why, while with you, we commanded you: “Anyone not willing to work shouldn’t get to eat!” 11 You see, we are hearing that some folks in the community are out of step with our teaching; they are idle, not working, but really busy doing nothing—and yet still expect to be fed! 12 If this is you or someone else in the community, we insist and urge you in the Lord Jesus the Anointed that you go to work quietly, earn your keep, put food on your own table, and supply your own necessities. 13 And to the rest of you, brothers and sisters, never grow tired of doing good.
14 If someone disregards the instructions of this letter, make a note of who it is and don’t have anything to do with that person so that this one may be shamed. 15 Don’t consider someone like this an enemy (he is an enemy only to himself) but warn him as if you were redirecting your own brother.
16 And now, dear friends, may the Lord of peace Himself grace you with peace always and in everything. May the Lord be present with all of you.
17 This final greeting is by me, Paul, written by my own hand. This is my signature, letting you know that this is a genuine letter from me, and so I write to you:
18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus the Anointed be with all of you.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Somewhere along the line, many get the idea that society owes them something. Paul put the words down correctly when he told the church body in Thessalonica, “Anyone not willing to work shouldn’t get to eat!” I want you to take care of those unable to work for themselves. I want you to help the feeble, the sick, those who cannot work. But those who can, you do them no favors by your unbridled charity. Give them something to do so they may understand their usefulness to society.
The Garden of Eden was not a place of continual rest and relaxation. People get that misconception sometimes. Heaven won’t be a place of rest, either. I gave Adam the requirement to care for creation before the fall. That’s a lot of work, but it gave meaning and purpose to his life. The curse on Adam and Eve’s banishment was not that they would start to work, but that the earth would fight against them in their toil.
You see, I have something for you to accomplish. You have skills and talents, spiritual gifts, I’ve given you that I expect you to use to assist others in finding Me or in building My church. I expect you to use those gifts in accomplishing things for My kingdom. Using those gifts will sometimes seem like work and sometimes seem like complete and utter joy. The two go hand in hand because I made you to work, not to sit around and do nothing. I made you to accomplish tasks…for Me.
There you have it. Paul wasn’t being cruel or dispassionate when he gave those words to the Thessalonians. He passed on My thoughts and My directions. I made you as productive members of society helping each other in ways only you can help. Find your place and accomplish your tasks. Everyone can do something. So get to it and get your jobs done with joy and gladness.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.