1st Thessalonians Chapter 2 tells us how to walk worthy of the Gospel. One of those ways is to speak the Gospel, boldly. Why? Because we have been entrusted with the Gospel. We have been entrusted with the call, and in the midst of shameful treatment, suffering and contention, we must speak the Gospel boldly! We must exhort one another without deceit, without uncleanness, without guile, and with the primary intent of pleasing God—not man.
You know, Paul said that when he and Silas imparted the Gospel, they did so willingly. Throughout that time, they served the people of Thessalonica. He said they cared for them just as a nurse cares for his children. Why would he do this? He was teaching them how to be Christians. He was building a Church within the short time that he had there, and laying down the foundation of how to teach and serve one another was critical for this infant Church to survive the trials that would surely come. Paul delivered the Gospel, and then he taught them how to walk worthy of the Gospel message they had been given. 

Walking worthy of the Gospel is not always easy. Remember, there were people who stood up against them and stirred up the community, so much so that they had to flee the city in the middle of the night and head off to Berea because the people were coming to get them. Remember the last town that they were in? Paul had been stoned and left for dead outside the city. So, when Paul is safe and sends word to let them know that he is okay, he does so because he had imparted into them a piece of himself. As pastors and apostles, that is what you do. Apostles plant churches, but pastors take care of the church and nourish the flock. 

God is raising up remnants in this hour. They are the refined, manifest sons of God, those that are willing to walk in the power and in the authority of the Living God in the days ahead. Those that will carry the light of the Living God. Those set apart for Him. 

We do need Christ to clean us up; we cannot impart pure teaching into other people when the layers of our own soul are defiled. If we do, we contaminate them as well. Walk worthy of the Gospel to which you have been called. Worthy. They say the eyes are the window to the soul. What do people see when they look in your eyes? What do they see? Do they see someone who is lusting after the world? Do they see someone who is more concerned with the things of the temporal, rather than the eternal? Do they see deceitfulness? Greed? Envy? Or do they see the work of the Refiner? Do they see the new breed of believers coming forth? Do they see that you are among the Remnant because they can see the light of the living God coming forth? Can they see that you are not darkened by sin or stained by the corruption that is within your soul, but instead, there is the light that reflects the holiness of God, that causes them to want to be drawn into the presence of God and drawn into His Word? When people have a conversation with you, do they want to know how to study the Word so that they, too, can learn to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Did they see the beauty that has been born from your suffering? More importantly, do they see the beauty that has been born from His suffering on your behalf? When they observe you from afar, do you emanate the Gospel? 

When my kids were young, after church I would take them over to a fast food restaurant, one of those with a play structure, to get burgers and fries. This was many, many years ago; my children are grown now. While my kids were playing, I saw our Mayor and his son come in. I called my oldest son, who was about 5 at the time, and told him that our Mayor just came in and I pointed out his son. My son is a thinker; he observes and ponders things, and when he was a boy, we’d jokingly say that we thought he was an old man in a child’s body because he was so analytical. (He’s still that way today and this gift makes for an excellent researcher.) 

Anyway, I told him that the man playing was our current Mayor. My son understood this; he already knew who our President was and understood his responsibilities over the country. He said, “He is?” I replied, “Yeah, and that is his son over there.” My son had been playing, but then he stopped, went over, sat down, and spent about 5 minutes watching the Mayor’s son play. The boy was about his age and my son was just watching him with this very serious look on his face. I called him over and I said, “Son, what are you doing? Are you done playing?” He replied, “I just want to see how a mayor's son plays.” 

The Lord brought that back to me this morning, and I remember that I asked my son on the way home, “So…what did you find out? What did you think about how the Mayor’s son plays?” And he said, “He plays just like any other kid.” 

My son was 5! This was such a pivotal moment for me. First of all, it gave me quite a window into my child that always stuck with me. He had pulled himself away from the huge play area with swings and slides to “observe how a mayor’s son behaves!” Second, I remember thinking, Lord if someone were to pull away and observe me in my everyday activity, what would they see? 

I want to challenge you with that, friends. Ask yourself, “When people observe me and my everyday activity, what do they see?” Are you just like any other kid? Any other person out there? Or, do you reflect the Gospel? Do you walk worthy of the Gospel in your daily life?
When Paul says to “walk worthy of the Gospel,” he is not just talking about in ministry, he is talking about our everyday lives. When we engage with people, when we are just playing, or whether we are just working on the yard, or working on our house, setting up for the GOE’s, getting ready for a call, playing at the park, driving and so on, what do we reflect? 

God is calling us to be the Remnant. We are not supposed to reflect just any other Christian or just any other kid, grandparent, sister, or brother. Our call is to reflect the King.

My son wanted to know if the son of the man who ran our town behaved any differently than other children. The Lord is calling us to behave differently, to reflect Him, to reflect the work of the Gospel, to reflect what He did on the Cross. He wants us to be capable of cutting through the garbage to grab hold of the treasure—the hearts of the people we encounter. In order to do this, we must walk worthy of the Gospel. 

Blessings and Love,

Ricci Wilson