Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13                   

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

The Scriptures are filled with exhortation, encouragements, and commands. Some are toward personal repentance and faith. Some are to adhere closely to the Bible’s messages. And some are to just do good things, for self and others. We are to be students, proclaimers, good listeners and servants to all. That’s a full plate. The good news is that the One who so guides our lives and steps provides absolutely everything we need to carry those things out. Remember the words of our Lord, “Without Me you can do nothing,” which points not to tasks like putting on socks or washing the car, but to things bearing true spiritual import.

In our epistle reading this week, the apostle Paul warns against living a life basically in the opposite direction of what the Scriptures declare. Not by being mean, aggressive or observably wicked, but by being “busybodies.” That’s a translation of a word in the version I read most to point to some one meddling in the lives of others, not serving them. With all the activity we see in Jesus and His earliest followers, one thing we could never conclude is that they were busybodies. On the contrary, they had objective purpose for nearly every word and task. Paul counsels us to live that way, taking what has been delivered to us by the hand of God and utilizing those blessings to bless others. Think Genesis 12:1-3.

Perhaps that’s a good way to remember Paul’s warning. Two words that begin with “B.” Blessing and Busybody. Which are you? Which do you want to be? “Dear Lord Jesus, make me a blessing. And please keep me from that other ‘B’ word. Amen!”