【双语灵修】呼！（松了一口气）WHEW!

帖撒罗尼迦前书 3:6-10

但提摩太刚才从你们那里回来，将你们信心和爱心的好消息报给我们，又说你们常常记念我们，切切地想见我们，如同我们想见你们一样。 所以弟兄们，我们在一切困苦患难之中，因着你们的信心就得了安慰。 你们若靠主站立得稳，我们就活了。 我们在神面前，因着你们甚是喜乐，为这一切喜乐，可用何等的感谢为你们报答神呢！ 我们昼夜切切地祈求，要见你们的面，补满你们信心的不足。

4月23日

呼！（松了一口气）

“提摩太……将你们信心和爱心的好消息报给我们。” - 帖撒罗尼迦前书 3:6

保罗喜出望外！他曾差派门徒提摩太回到帖撒罗尼迦城，去查看他们在那里刚建立不久的教会。而提摩太带回了极好的消息！

首先，介绍一下背景：保罗在帖撒罗尼迦只待了很短的时间，建立了一个基督跟随者的群体，随后就被一群反对福音的愤怒暴徒赶走了。保罗深知在他离开期间，那里的初信者面临的严峻挑战，因为他们生活在一个深深敌视基督教的文化中。如果所有人都回到了以往犹太教或希腊传统的生活方式，保罗一点也不会感到惊讶。

但提摩太带回来的报告说，尽管面临挑战，帖撒罗尼迦的新信徒依然站立得稳，他们对耶稣依然充满信心，甚至渴望再次见到保罗！

这绝非偶然。那位叫耶稣从死里复活的神，也使这些人在祂里面得着生命，并保守他们。你可以说，每一个站立得稳的新基督徒，都是一个持续进行的复活故事，一个新造的人，证明了神正在做一件大事：即万物的更新。

正如保罗在《哥林多后书》中所说，若有人在基督里，他就是新造的人。旧事已过，都变成新的了！

祷告

主啊，我们这些在基督里新造的人，很高兴有你复活的大能在我们里面运行。感谢你！旧事正在消逝，新事正在来临。求帮助我们看见并为此欢喜。阿们。

1 Thessalonians 3:6-10

THURSDAY, APRIL 23

WHEW!

Timothy has . . . brought good news about your faith and love. —1 Thessalonians 3:6

Paul was overjoyed! He had sent his disciple, Timothy, back to the city of Thessalonica to check on the church they had recently planted there. And Timothy had returned with amazing news!

First, the background: Paul had spent only a short time in Thessalonica, establishing a community of Christ-followers, before an angry mob opposed to the gospel chased him off. Paul knew the deep challenges that the new Christians faced there in his absence, living in a culture that was deeply opposed to Christianity. He wouldn’t have been surprised if everyone had gone back to their former ways of life in Judaism or Greek tradition.

But Timothy came back with a report that the new Christians in Thessalonica were standing firm despite the challenges. They remained full of faith in Jesus. They even longed to see Paul again!

That doesn’t happen by accident. The God who raised Jesus from the dead also brought these people to life in him, and he kept them there. You might say that every standing-firm, new Christian was an ongoing resurrection story, a new creation, proof that God was up to something big: the renewal of all creation.

If anyone is in Christ, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, there is a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come!

Lord, all of us who are new creations in Christ are glad to have your resurrection power at work in us. Thank you! The old is going away and the new is coming. Help us to see and rejoice. Amen.