If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:23.

We who have fled to Him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Hebrews 6:18-19.

In our Friday Zoom Retreat, we discussed how we read the Bible. That’s a loaded question that touches deep emotion, theology, guilt, hope, uncertainty and for many, a clean slate. Whenever I try in my imagination to try to tell someone why read the Bible at all, I quickly become bogged down because there is so much and it is so vast. It’s difficult to quantify why there is even a need except for the confusions we cannot escape living in our broken world. With a group such as ours who love Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, we would tell you it helps to read Scripture through the lens of God’s love for you. Meet Jesus there through it all especially as you read parts you don’t understand. His admonitions help “make life less painful” as our group leader expressed. Why would God care? Because you are His and dearly loved. Read Scripture with God’s help to “understand and apply truth to every part of your life…and to keep company with Jesus.”

Our chapter, 1 Thessalonians 3, shows God’s love through the heart of Paul and the brethren in Thessalonica. This was no easy time for the new church facing challenges and oppositions from both Gentiles and Jews within and without. Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind in Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know. For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always think kindly of us, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, for this reason, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; for now we really live, if you stand firm in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account…as we night and day keep praying most earnestly that we may see your face, and may complete what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

Can we appreciate how radically different this new way of seeing God was for the people living then who were coming out of idolatry which was worshiping images of stone they themselves created; or holding God who was distant to their everyday lives so holy one could not even say or write His name? And then Jesus, the Son, came. If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. To be loved by God. It opens a crack into our entire understanding of Him and us. Reading Scripture can “shape and form my thinking and lifestyle so they are increasingly redemptive and life-giving.” Redemptive and life-giving. A beginning. Remember, you can walk with God. You can sit with Him in quiet and talk about everything. You can listen. You can experience closeness with Him as His peace settles deep within. I’m slowly learning not to fear trials as I once did. Opportunities to give them to Him first and let His peace settle as I trust Him for the outcomes. And not just for me but importantly, for those I love and those He loves which is all of us. These are just words until you start to experience them yourself with Him and that takes time and trust. As for time, He lives in eternity. As for trust, God is faithful. His love and His faithfulness are clearly seen in Scripture…and always for us.