I Thessalonians 2
4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the
gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
5 For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a
pretext for greed—God is witness.
6 Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others,
though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her
own children.
Once
you accept Christ as Savior, you become an ambassador for Christ- a carrier of
the Gospel, just like Paul says he was in verse four. As we carry the Gospel,
we have great responsibility.
Our
main obligation is to please God, rather than man with our message. It can be
difficult to present a truth that is convicting to those we love and care
about. Even when we are talking to other Christians, we tend to sugar coat the
truth or avoid certain subjects so that we don’t offend anyone by addressing
topics that convict our sin.
But
here, Paul says that we shouldn’t speak words of flattery, greed or seek glory
from others. We shouldn’t twist the Gospel and the Word of God to make
ourselves or others look better. We must be honest, rightly dividing the word
of truth, as 2nd Timothy says. We must look into Scripture like a
mirror, cutting away things in our lives that don’t match the reflection.
On
the other side of this, its important not to beat people over the head with
truth either! Sometimes we go too far the other way and we leave people
battered, bruised, and beat up. In verse seven, Paul says he was gentle- like a
nursing mother taking care of her own children. That spirit of gentleness is
important. It is not our job to convict or convince others to turn from their
sin-that is what Scripture does. We are just messengers, delivering the truth
gently in a manner that pleases our Heavenly Father.
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