Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (New Living Translation)

We don’t need to tell them about it, for they keep talking about the wonderful welcome you gave us and how you turned away from idols to serve the living and true God.

Paul and his fellow missionaries are writing to the Christians in Thessaloníki (I think that’s how to spell it). Paul tells these Christians what the other Christians in the region think of them and feel about them.

One of the things we often gloss over in this introduction to the letter is the Christians in that place had turned away from idols and turned to God. That is no small matter. They completely changed their lives. I never experienced this drastic a change. Most Christians in America have never experienced this drastic a change.

In their past, these Christians woke each morning and bowed to a statue. They believed the statue could alter the course of human events. They believed the statue could bring rain and bountiful crops and good business. Often, they statue would cause their political leader to be nice to them.

This was not superstition—wink, wink, wink while mumbling some words. This was a true belief in the power of a thing to do the unthinkable.

These people tossed those things into the trash and looked instead to God. They recognized that God had the power over creation. They recognized their right relationship with God and that the sacrifice of Jesus made them right with God.

That was a miraculous change in the lives of these people long ago in a place whose name I can’t spell. Let us ponder that one for a while. Thank you God for giving me examples of how You change lives.