September 14 - 1 Thessalonians 3: Pouring and Splashing

The Message paraphrase of the Bible often uses descriptive terms that help me better visualize and sense what the Holy Spirit is saying.  The words at the end of this chapter are just that kind of metaphor:  love - like water, pouring, filling, spilling out, splashing around.

And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you  (3:12) 

I've been running errands today in the rain and there was no way to avoid getting wet in some way or another!  That's how it is with God and it's how it can be when we are alive to His life in us - people can't help but feel a little moistened or (hopefully) drenched when with us.

Paul didn't say this lightly or in wishful thinking - he spoke it from the experience of living what he preached.  From chapter 2, we get insight to his relationship with the Thessalonians, which sounds a lot like his exhortation in 1 Corinthians 13:

Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else.

• Love cares more for others than for self...Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,” 

We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children.

•  Doesn’t revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything,

We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.   (2:6-8)

• Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back,But keeps going to the end.  (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

Christ's message through Paul is consistent - love is not simply a feeling or a choice.  Love is lived out in desperate, thirsty dependence on the Living Water for what is not possible in my dried out soul.