Bold love in Paul’s early letter
Daily Scripture
1 Thessalonians 5:10-15
10 Jesus died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. 11 So continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.
12 Brothers and sisters, we ask you to respect those who are working with you, leading you, and instructing you. 13 Think of them highly with love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are disorderly. Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure no one repays a wrong with a wrong, but always pursue the good for each other and everyone else.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
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Writing to one of the earliest Christian communities he had raised up, the apostle Paul thanked God for the Thessalonians’ effort that came from love (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3). In today’s reading, near the end of the letter, he expanded on the practical, everyday ways that love takes shape in community life. He mentioned loving not only leaders, but also all those who especially needed love because they weren’t likely to find it in society.
- Scholar William Barclay said, “Verse 14 picks out those who need special care and attention.” * The apostle listed “those who are disorderly,” “the discouraged,” and “the weak,” knowing that at times they would need to “be patient with everyone.” How must that principle shape the ways you (and your congregation) minister to people in 2025? To what current issues do you and your congregation boldly apply Paul’s wisdom about loving “each other and everyone else”?
- Paul urged the Thessalonians to respect those who are “working…leading…instructing.” “Paul tells church members to love their leaders not in order to set them on a pedestal but for the sake of their service (1 Corinthians 16:16).” ** In his day, there weren’t yet formal “appointment” or training processes for leaders, but there were already people who used their gifts in faithful service to others. How does Paul’s guidance speak to you in our more formally organized times?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, shape me into a person who can warn, comfort, help and be patient with others. Guide me to always pursue the good for others and for your kingdom. Amen.
GPS Insights
Amy Oden
Dr. Amy Oden, who serves as Adjunct Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality at the Oklahoma campus of Saint Paul School of Theology, wrote today's Insights. Teaching is her calling, and she looks forward to every day with students. Her book (Right Here, Right Now: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness, Abingdon Press, 2017) traces ancient mindfulness practice for Christians today.
These words about how to follow Jesus challenge me. Too often, I am not “patient with everyone” (1 Thess 5:14). Too often, I want to “repay a wrong with another wrong”–that will teach them! Too often, I’m preoccupied and don’t “always pursue the good for each other and everyone else” (v. 15).
Why would we ever think love was soft or easy or warm and fuzzy? The strength required for this kind of bold love is right up there with the strength that can lift hundreds of pounds or climb Mount Everest in extreme altitudes without enough oxygen. Loving boldly is not fluff or sentiment. It requires focused intention, self-awareness and self-discipline. And even more than these, loving boldly requires utter surrender to the grace of God.
I start each day with great intentions, only to abandon them by 9am. My intention to love boldly evaporates in the face of work demands, emails to write and to-do lists to check off. I become driven, more committed to getting things done than to “live in peace with each other” (v. 13), “comfort the discouraged” or “help the weak” (v. 14). Yet it is precisely in these daily demands of emails, tasks and to-do lists where bold love is embodied and made plain.
What if loving boldly was my guide for those tasks? What if I measured my productivity by how boldly I love? What if surrendered to God my need to be seen as important and productive and instead gave myself to God’s daily project of loving boldly, whether anyone else sees it or not?
Oh, Love that offered All, give me the strength to surrender into your bold loving today.
© 2025 Resurrection: A United Methodist Church. All Rights Reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians (Revised Edition). Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, p. 207.
** Love L. Sechrest, study note on 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 in The CEB Study Bible. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2013, p. 395 NT.
