“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” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
Paul had been in Thessalonica for three weeks and had to leave the city under the pressure of persecution. It’s amazing that he could write this church and note such remarkable results from a three-week church plant. What caught his attention was the result produced by what could have been abstract ideas—faith, hope and love. Their faith had produced work, their love had resulted in labor to the point of weariness and their hope had inspired endurance.
We don’t trust our works for our salvation but when we have faith it produces a radical change in our lives. Paul was saying to the Thessalonians that he could recognize the difference believing in Christ was making in our lives. We don’t work to obtain faith, labor to produce love or hang in there so we can have hope. Our faith, our love and our hope come from God. We simply see the results that those gifts produce.
The problem we sometimes have is that we don’t start at the beginning. We look for results first. The real solution to spiritual growth is learning to begin with God’s gifts of faith, hope and love. Then the results come naturally. We do the things God wants us to do, love others like He loves us and we never give up.
