New Testament · Letters

1 Thessalonians chapter 2

You yourselves know, , that our to you wasn’t a waste of time.Instead, even though we had already been in Philippi — as you know — we through our God to share God’s with you, even though there was serious .Because our doesn’t come from , or from impure motives, or from trying to trick you.Instead, as people who have been by God to be trusted with the good news, that’s exactly how we speak — not to impress people, but to please God, who .You know we never used , and God is our witness that we never had greedy ulterior motives.We weren’t looking for praise from people — not from you, not from anyone else — even though as of , we could have .Instead, we were among you, like a tenderly caring for her own children.We that we were happy to share with you not only God’s good news but , because you had become so dear to us.You remember, brothers and sisters, our — we worked night and day so we wouldn’t be a on any of you while we shared God’s good news with you.You are witnesses, and so is God, of how , how , and how our behavior was among you who .You know that we treated each one of you the way a treats his own children — you, comforting you, and urging you to live in a way that’s of God, who is inviting you into his own and .And here’s another reason we constantly thank God: when you received the that you heard from us, you didn’t accept it as just a human message. You accepted it for what it actually is — the message of God, which is in you who trust it.Because you, brothers and sisters, started following the pattern of God’s in Judea who are the One, Jesus — you suffered the same things from your own people that they suffered from theirs,who killed both and the , and drove us out too. They displease God and are hostile to everyone,trying to stop us from speaking to so they could be . They keep to the limit. But the .But when we were from you, brothers and sisters — physically, not in our hearts — we were even more desperate to see you face to face.We wanted to come to you — I, Paul, tried again and again — but blocked our way.After all, what is our hope, our joy, or the we’ll be proud of when our Lord Jesus ? Isn’t it you?You absolutely are our and .