Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. – 2 Thessalonians 1:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (November 28, 2014): 2 Thessalonians 1 & 2

Victor Hugo once wrote that “initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” If that is true, then it might be the initiative is even rarer than we think. I remember as a young man applying for positions and hearing leaders tell me that what they needed was a self-starter. I understood that, and I have always considered myself to be a self-starter, but I also remembering questioning that idea; after all a self-starter is really only half of the equation. What is needed is not just someone who will get to work without being told, but as Hugo said, we need them to be willing to do the right thing. And beyond that, we need them to be willing to the right thing, even when there is pressure from superiors to cut corners or do something that is clearly wrong.

But there is also another element to this concept. We have to have the ability to know what it is that is right, and in our current culture that is maybe even harder. We truly are easily led, and often it is tough to even know what is right. Even within the church, I am amazed at how often we struggle with this concept, often being led down dead end rabbit trails by people who convince us that this is the will of God (some recent conversations about whether God is a God of love, or a God of hate come immediately to mind.) Sometimes in our culture we are too interested in short sound bites rather than diving into the width, length and depth of the Biblical message.   

And it is amazing how hard doing thing the right thing really is. The Thessalonians seems to have impressed Paul because they were persisting in doing the right thing. In spite of all of the challenges that they were facing, they were steadfastly chasing after what was right and good. Their persistence and faith, in the face of a culture that wanted them to do anything other than what was right, was praiseworthy. And there commitment to chasing after the things of God was something that Paul wanted to make sure all of the other churches were aware of – in this area the Thessalonians were setting the example – they were actively taking the initiative by “doing the right thing without being told.”

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Thessalonians 3