1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

If we can’t love our family, strangers don’t have a chance. Perhaps some people do treat strangers better than family. However, that is not the norm; family comes first with most people. Perhaps that is why in his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul focuses his final thoughts upon the relationships within the church.

When we become a Christian, the first relationship that God makes right is our relationship with him. Then he begins to work, in union with us, to establish, and make right, the relationships within the Christian family. Paul told his brothers and sisters in Christ that they needed to acknowledge the hard work that their pastors and ministers were doing among them. They needed to hold the ministers of the church in high regard because of their effort in doing God’s work.

He then told them that they need to live at peace with each other. We all joke about brothers and sisters fighting, but Paul knew that when it happened in the church, it could be devastating. Yet he also knew that sometimes it was necessary to correct a family member who was straying from the path of righteousness. He told them to warn anyone who refused to work or who was disruptive. However, most of our actions within our Christian family do not take the form of correction, but rather encouragement and assistance. Just as an older brother or sister will help their younger sibling in the home, the same should happen in the church.

Paul warned against the dangers of holding a grudge or seeking revenge. Yes, sometimes a fellow Christian will do something, or say something that hurts us. That is a fact of life, but if we are Christians, forgiveness is a necessity of life.

Paul summed it up like this, “..always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” Love does what’s best for another, even when it’s difficult. When we love each other, that love will flow outward into the world.