1 Thessalonians 2:1-13

Brothers and sisters, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. Before we came to you, people in Philippi abused us with insults and made us suffer. You know all about that. And then, when we came to you, many people there caused trouble for us. But our God gave us the courage we needed to tell you his Good News. When we encourage people to believe the Good News, it’s not out of wrong motives. We are not trying to trick or fool anyone. No, we did it because God is the one who gave us this work. And this was only after he tested us and saw that we could be trusted to do it. So when we speak, we are only trying to please God, not anyone else. He is the one who can see what is in our hearts. You know that we never tried to influence you by saying nice things about you. We were not trying to get your money. We had no greed to hide from you. God knows that this is true. We were not looking for praise from people—not from you or anyone else. When we were with you, as apostles of Christ we could have used our authority to make you help us. But we were very gentle with you. We were like a mother caring for her little children. We loved you very much, so we were happy to share God’s Good News with you. But not only that—we were also happy to share even our own lives with you. Brothers and sisters, I know that you remember how hard we worked. We worked night and day to support ourselves, so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we did the work of telling you God’s Good News. When we were there with you believers, we were pure, honest, and without fault in the way we lived. You know, just as God does, that this is true. You know that we treated each one of you the way a father treats his own children. We encouraged you, we comforted you, and we told you to live good lives for God. He calls you to be part of his glorious kingdom. Also, we always thank God because of the way you accepted his message. You heard it and accepted it as God’s message, not our own. And it really is God’s message. And it works in you who believe.