Second Thessalonians is a short letter.
Paul obviously loved everyone in this group at Thessalonica (a city in Greece) and he wanted them to know it! His opening is super encouraging:
Our God gives you everything you need, makes you everything you need to be.
II Thess 1: 2 (The Message by Eugene Peterson)
One contributor to the Christian Science Sentinel seems to have made it her practice to memorise the Golden Text from the Christian Science Bible Lessons. [This week's Golden Text is from Psalms 103:2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits...]
Miss Adams writes:
Memorizing the Golden Texts in our weekly Lesson-Sermons, found in the Christian Science Quarterly, when I was a Sunday School pupil has given me an inspiring store of food for spiritual thought. One cherished text is in II Thessalonians (3:5), "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ." This simple message has had profound meaning for me in my application of Christian Science to human problems.— Boston, Massachusetts.
See Christian Science Sentinel Feb 29, 1964
The Living Bible translates II Thess 3:5 as follows:
May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and of the patience that comes from Christ.
I love the idea I read somewhere that patience may be equated to expectant waiting, unrelated to time.
Book Clubbers will enjoy the website BiblePlaces.com, especially https://www.bibleplaces.com/thessalonica/ for some helpful background on Tessalonica's history and geography. Paul's visit there was part of his second big journey.
Happy reading and researching.
Julie Swannell
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