This study is from an on going online Daily Bible Study at:
DailyBibleStudy.Org | Daily Bible Study Index Page | Daily Bible Study Online E-Book Library
1 Thessalonians 1:3
3 Remembering [mnemoneuo] without ceasing [adialeiptos] your [humon] work [ergon] of faith, [pistis] and [kai] labour [kopos] of love, [agape] and [kai] patience [hupomone] of hope [elpis] in our [hemon] Lord [kurios] Jesus [Iesous] Christ, [Christos] in the sight [emprosthen] of God [theos] and [kai] our [hemon] Father; [pater] KJV-Interlinear
3 constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, NASB
The believers in Thessalonica, were strong in their spiritual pursuit as indicated here through Pauls words.
Their work of faith indicates their strength of confidence in doctrine and of the unseen God that they had only heard about, and not speculation or beliefs of convenience or invention.
Their labor of love, since love represents the content of doctrine, indicates their consistency in their studying and learning of the scriptures, and their understanding of what they are studying. Not enticements of charm or lofty words of human promises.
Their steadfastness of hope compliments their faith in that they look to God with confidence for things that are real and secure in life, and not for things that are simply wishes or unreasonable expectations.
Spiritual maturity is the acceptance of one’s circumstances in this world, and the process of working through your circumstances by means of the doctrinal viewpoint. It is not the wish of immediate relief in the hope for the Rapture, or being whisked off to heaven in order to escape the trials of this world, such that you do not have to face them.
Much of the spiritual growth process comes from your experiences in this world, and how you respond or react to them.
Whether in prosperity and forgetting God, or in adversity and crying out to God, when you have established a pattern of ignoring God throughout your life, or whether in prosperity and placing God before your blessings, or in adversity and looking to God with confident assurance, then your approach to God in your spiritual life is established by your own attitude and thinking.
Your lifestyle pattern is that which you have chosen to follow regardless of your circumstances. And your chosen pattern is that which establishes your spiritual life, or lack of it.
With spiritual resources, you are well able to face any and all circumstances that life can throw your way. Without spiritual resources, prosperity will lead you astray and adversity will find you helpless and without Gods help.
Jesus Christ is our one and only link to God the Father. God the Father is the ultimate target of all religion and philosophy, who reject Christ as their path to Him.
Thus mans arrogance (the will of dust) rejects Gods rules (infinite truth and power) and makes mans rules (the power of dust) as an equal to those of God (the infinite essence of God).
