Faced with pressures on daily living, and confusion resulting from hearing false teaching, the Thessalonian Christians needed encouragement. Paul had given that. But they needed something more. They needed to remember God had a purpose for them, a purpose they could not afford to forget in the midst of their struggles. In this brief passage Paul gently reminds them of this and encourages them to reengage in God’s plan. Knowing God’s purposes for us and keeping them in focus is a challenge for us during stressful times, but is essential. It helps us look beyond ourselves (and our problems) and stay in sync with God.

With their confusion about the timing of the Lord’s return and the suffering that they were experiencing as a result of their faith, Paul knew the young Thessalonian Christians needed some encouragement to stand firm in their faith. In this passage we hear him remind them of who they are and of what lies in the future for them as the basis of his appeal to them to not waver and not abandon what they have been taught. These same things can help us stand firm when we are facing tough sledding or feel beaten up by our circumstances.

False predictions of Jesus’ return have abounded in recent years. In this passage we’ll discover two things that must occur before Jesus will return, and the one thing that has so far prevented those two things from happening. Don’t be misled by date setters. So far they’ve all been wrong, and they will continue to be wrong.

Sometime after Timothy had returned from Thessalonica and Paul had written the letter we call 1 Thessalonians, Paul received additional information about the believers in Thessalonica. It seems the suffering they were going through had increased dramatically. As we might say, these believers were on the ropes and needed some encouragement to fight on.

To encourage them, Paul turns to an aspect of Jesus’ return he hadn’t mentioned in his first letter. In 2 Thessalonians 1 Paul reminds the believers that at Jesus’ return they will experience joy while their persecutors and others who’ve rejected Jesus will face eternal destruction. Their current position and that of their persecutors will be reversed, forever. This long term perspective can help us, as it helped those young believers, to continue to stand up for Christ as opposition to him increases around us.