Like any good letter-writer in the first century, Paul begins with words of blessing. As Dan so ably pointed out yesterday, the opening verses of this lovely letter are a single, long sentence of doxology and praise. And with his next, very large breath (again, one single sentence in the Greek!), Paul moves from blessing to thanksgiving and prayer — thanksgiving to God for these friends, and prayer for their further spiritual development. This is the only one of Paul’s letters to contain this triple-whammy of blessing/thanksgiving/prayer, so it’s worth our time to unpack these nine verses with care.
And as we do, I find myself wondering this: what might happen if all our correspondence — letters, notes, emails, blog comments — what if all of it borrowed from Paul’s pattern in this remarkable letter. Even if we find ourselves in disagreement with a writer or a friend, even if we’re concerned about a topic or a direction taken or a decision made — what might it mean in our written conversations if we always began with blessing, thanksgiving and prayer? Maybe as this New Year continues to unfurl before us, we could make that a resolution of sorts, to offer encouraging words first and foremost. We might find that any harsher words we’re harboring simply fly away with the wind if we concentrate on the kind ones first.
And what could be kinder than letting someone know that we thank God for them? Continually thank God for them? And what could be more encouraging than to hear that we are prayed for, prayed over, prayed about? Paul tells them exactly what his prayer for them is and I really like that. . .
LOVE your new look here, Diana….and this post on Bible Dude. Such an encouraging word to begin the day. Thank you. XOX
Thank you, Patricia – I love the new look, too! And thanks for your encouraging words this morning.
What a gift to give another – to let them know that we thank God for them! We definitely need to do it more often.
Amen, friend. Thanks for coming by.