DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
1 Thessalonians
1:6-10
(11/10)
Epistle for Tuesday of the Twenty-Third Week after Pentecost
Following Christ: 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10, especially vss 6, 7: “And
you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much
affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to
all....”
We should not be surprised that affliction comes
when we seriously follow the Lord Jesus, His Apostles, or His Saints. Why? Because this world is darkness and
blight, as Saint John of Kronstadt indicates:
“The world is in a state of slumber, or sinful sleep. It sleeps,” because “...we
sinful men...love space, freedom, vain carnal freshness [and] are slothful,
negligent, and evil.” Why
should we not expect the world to lash out at us when we dare to wake it from
sinful sleep, when we rouse others, or when we exemplify Christ in truth?
The Lord Himself warns us: “'If
the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world
would love its own. Yet because you
are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world
hates you” (Jn. 15:18,19). This is spiritual logic: affliction
comes to those who follow Christ, since He is the Source of all goodness, love,
and truth; and the world will, invariably, evade or silence Light-bearing
intrusions, for the ruler of the present darkness is not slow to strike out
against the Light.
Why, then, do those who wake the world from its sinful
sleep reap its hatred but have joy when backlash comes? Simply because joy in
Christ is not mundane happiness or delight. Rather, as the Apostle says of the Thessalonian Christians when they endured affliction, it
was “...with joy of the Holy Spirit...” (1 Thess. 1:6). Joy comes into hearts by the Holy
Spirit.
And what kind of joy does the Spirit bring if not
reassurance? Be a follower of
Christ, then, and “'...when [men] revile and persecute you, and say all
kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake”
choose to “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad...'” (Mt. 5:11,12). Why? Because you are “'Blessed...for great is your reward in heaven...'”
(Mt. 5:11,12).
Follow the physician-martyr Orestes: enduring unspeakable
tortures, he prayed, “O Lord Jesus Christ...vouchsafe
me to become a member of the choir of those who have suffered for Thee and who
have inherited Thy kingdom.”
The afflicted in Christ have the “...author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured
the cross, despising the shame...” (Heb. 12:2) and these know that He
will receive His followers in His Kingdom.
The influence on the hearts and lives of
non-believers who encounter faithful, joyful Christians walking in the way of
the Lord and enduring affliction, is predictable . They either join the persecutors out of
fear; or, when they see the truth of love being lived, they are moved by the
witness and turn “...to God from idols to serve the living and true
God...” (1 Thess. 1:9). The
power of pure, holy, Spirit-inspired following does not ever leave men
indifferent.
O Lord, by the sufferings Thy Saints endured for Thy sake,
have compassion and heal the sufferings of those who cry out unto Thee, O Thou
only Lover of mankind.
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