Win with the title
1 Thessalonians (1) Victory from the beginning (1 Thessalonians 1:1-3)
<Grace comes before effort>
Everyone strives for success, but hard work does not open the way. In general, connection and grace are more important than ability or effort. If God does not give grace, the door of blessing will not be easily opened even if we work for a hundred days. The road of blessing unfolds as we are caught in the line of grace rather than unfolding according to our efforts. Therefore, serve your parents and superiors well on a regular basis, and furthermore, serve God sleepily. Then thick lines of grace will come down from heaven.
Grace takes precedence over effort. The fact that this ‘first’ is important. Jesus said. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Effort is important, but first, hold on to God. No matter how hard you try, your spouse or children don't change and your business fails. Therefore, before you make an effort, hold on to the line of grace and become well versed in grace.
To get a good job these days, you have to beat the competition of a few teens. It is not just skills alone to get a job through such a competitive rate. At that time, there is almost no superiority in ability, so there must be a line of grace in the end. There are surprisingly many cases in life where problems are solved by grace rather than ability. In the end, people do not live by ‘skills’, but by ‘grace’.
Now seek the line of divine grace. God's hand is bigger than man's hand. No matter what a man does, it is nothing in the sight of God. However, if God grants grace, there will be no harshness. That grace saves life. Salvation is given by grace, and blessings are also given by grace. How do you get a lot of grace? There is the most important factor necessary to receive grace. That's thanks.
< Win from the beginning >
When Paul wrote a letter to the Thessalonian church, he first prayed for grace and peace (verse 1). And he said, “I always give thanks to God for all of you” (verse 2). The Apostle Paul was moved by those who kept their faith in the midst of persecution and always thanked God for giving them such faith. At that time, the Thessalonians were overflowing with faith, love, and hope, which are the same virtues as the three primary colors of their religious life, and they were also overflowing with gratitude because they constantly remembered those facts (verse 3).
If you keep thinking about what you are grateful for, you will overflow with gratitude. So, win from the thinking stage. If you think deeply, you can feel the grace greatly. After all, how much did you receive? Life is what you live with for the rest of your life. When you are born, you take care of yourself, and when you die, you have to take care of someone else who takes care of you. When I think about it, every time I think about it, I am grateful. Why do some people complain every time they think about it? It's not because he has a bad personality, but because he keeps forgetting things to be thankful for.
Whenever I attend a funeral, I vividly feel how thrilling it is to be saved and become the people of Heaven. Go to the hospital emergency room. Moans and screams can be heard everywhere, and when you see people lying in the emergency room covered in blood, even just a few hours there, you can feel the blessings of health and turn the lamentations of life into admiration. “Life is such a beautiful thing! I am now living by the grace of God!”
We have regular customers in the emergency room. A bloody car accident patient. Some people go directly to the mortuary rather than the emergency room. When I see my family running to me with fearful faces, I think of this. “I am now living in the grace of God protecting me!” Even in such a dark situation, when I think of the countless other graces of God, I am overflowing with gratitude. Gratitude also keeps your head spinning and overflows with creative ideas. If you always remember the things to be thankful for, live your life with abundant grace.