May our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father,
who loved us and through grace
gave us eternal comfort and good hope,
comfort your hearts.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
The verb tenses matter. What does the Apostle say that God has done for us in the past. He’s …
- “loved us”
- given us “comfort”
- and encouraged us with “hope.”
Have you felt that love? experienced that comfort? heard that grace? known that forgiveness? believed that blessing? grabbed hold of that joy?
The Apostle assumes you have! That light occasionally seems to flicker because of sin, but because we’ve glimpsed it before, Paul lovingly extends to us a new blessing – a blessing for the present. He says essentially: “May God – who’s blessed you in the past – comfort your hearts now.”
Do you see that?
Most of that live that way. For example, I’m confident that Mary Louise will wake up beside me tomorrow. Why? Because she’s done it day-after-day in the past.
I’m confident that God will give me – and you – comfort, hope, joy, or whatever we need in the present … because he’s done it many times in the past.
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who doesn’t want self-confidence
(I’d rather have God-confidence)
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