Labor of Love

This morning Pastor Roland began a new series looking at Healthy Living through the lens of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians. As with most series he started at the beginning of the book, focusing on verse 3: We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke eloquently challenging us to reflect on whether this could be said of our lives. Were we passionately following our first love? Was our work coming out of our faith in Christ, our labor being prompted by our love for Jesus, and our hope in Christ allowing to endure whatever we were being challenged with in our lives?

I have been thinking about this verse all day wondering what our marriages would be like if this verse became a reality in each of our lives. How differently would we speak and act if we did everything to glorify God? What things would we say to our spouses? What tone of voice would we use when we greet them after we are apart? How would we feel when we are folding the thrid load or laundry or scrubbing the toilet once again. It is all in our attitudes. We have a choice. We can pity ourselves or we can be thankful that we have a husband or children to care for. We can be thankful for our warm houses and for the toilet that is indoors. We can call upon the Lord for the strength we need to get through the day. Labor prompted by love is our choice--every single day.