“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling.”  

2 Thessalonians 1:11

The context of Paul’s prayer is the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus. His return will bring relief to suffering Christians and terrible vengeance on “those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus” (1:8). A chilling description of that vengeance is ‘the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord’ (1:9). That alone should drive us to our knees on behalf of those from all nations who are heading, consciously or unconsciously, in that direction. 

But Paul goes on to pray that the Thessalonians will be counted worthy of their calling to enjoy relief from suffering when Christ returns. The Bible reminds Christians of all that we are and have, thanks to the Lord Jesus, without having done anything to deserve it. We have new life, forgiveness, the Holy Spirit and eternal life, to name but a few. That is our calling. Paul prays that the Thessalonian Christians will live up to this wonderful calling. 

In the army I was assigned to a regiment of tanks. If that was my ‘calling’, from that moment on I had to live a life that reflected that fact. As Christians we are children of God and we need to live like that, displaying the family likeness. 

Such behaviour will affect how we pray for ourselves, how we want others to pray for us, how we pray for our churches and our participation in God’s mission worldwide. Do you pray like that for your mission partner, study partner, or short-term volunteer? We need to, because Paul’s prayer that God may make the Thessalonians worthy shows that they – and we – desperately need God’s help. 

Our family is in exam season. That is reflected in our prayers, and rightly so. But will Christ ask about our GCSE results when he comes again? I think not. But do we pray for the things that he will ask us about? 

  Crosslinks magazine July 2006 index