This really struck me today and made me think of what being devoted to Jesus means. It means (my opinion) that your hope and joy is in the fact that we will have eternal life with Christ and our rest will come when He returns. And the only way to have true peace and joy in this world is to let go and let God. How do we handle ourselves when times are tuff? Do we blame God or shrink back from learning and praying? That is the time we need to praise Him and be that light for people to see. All the fully devoted people in the bible were joyful in the Lord and they suffered and stayed true to what they loved. They would give up anything for Christ and they were not concerned about their stuff or their lives.
Verse 5 says, “And God will use this persecution to show His justice and to make you worthy of His Kingdom, for which you are suffering.”
When we surrender our will we become unselfish and we start acting in a way that is like Christ. We give, we serve, we help people in our line of sight and people we don’t know even if it cost us something. We focus on how Jesus lived and we have the peace to know we are going to be alright no matter what.
At the end of verse 8 it says, “…and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus.” Verse 9continues and says, “They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and His glorious power.”
Open God’s word and pray and be full of the Spirit so no matter what happens we have the peace and joy that God promises as we live our short life on earth. Amen