Sunday 5th October
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:12
“We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIVUK)
It is liberating to reflect on the significance of Paul’s prayer to life each day. Although scripture encourages us to bring our petitions to God with the full expectation they will be heard, this prayer teaches us the nature of the space in which we pray.
Paul’s vision for the Thessalonian believers is not that they achieve some goal in their life, get that job, gain a promotion, find a spouse encounter good weather and safe travel on that holiday they have been longing for. Paul’s vision is that Jesus is fully reflected and glorified in their lives – that the end for which they were saved and called be finally achieved.
This is a worthy petition. It reflects on their calling and acknowledges that simply telling them to try harder to be holy and close the gap between what they are now and what they will be is completely inadequate to the task. Just as they, and we, were called by the sheer grace of God so we will grow closer to Jesus and glorify Him in our lives by that same grace. It is all of Him and hence the petition rises from Paul to the glory of God.
It is a full and complete picture of the nature and purpose of prayer – a guide worth living by.
