Contagious Lifestyle
Have you ever been around someone who has changed your life? Maybe it hasn't been a life altering change but maybe it was the way they lived their life that was contagious, and no I don't mean COVID. I had the opportunity to meet with a man a few weeks back that had this demeanor about him. His drive to serve the Lord and the way he treated the people around him just fired me up.
I love what Paul said to the church in Thessalonica, "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing." 2 Thessalonians 1:3. Paul was saying that because of the lifestyle that these people were living it caused them to respond with thanksgiving. As I read this today, I thought to myself, are you living a lifestyle that is causing others to rejoice? Are you living a life that is overflowing to others and changing their state of being? Well some days that can be a convicting thought. Here are 2 things that I learned from the church of Thessalonica:
Abundant faith is contagious!
The first thing that Paul said about these people is that they had faith that was growing abundantly. I have noticed something about people who live a life of faith; they have the word of God coming out of their mouth all the time. Faith is produced from the word of God and those that walk in it have the promises of God written on their heart and talk about them. The other thing that I have noticed is that they will talk about what God has done already in their life, they will testify.
It is contagious to people when we talk about the promises of God and celebrate with gratitude the things that He has already done in our lives.
2. Love for people will draw them to you
Paul says that "the love of every one of you for one another is increasing", that kind of blows me away! The love of EVERYONE OF THEM was increasing! Think about that for a second all the people that were Christians in Thessalonica were not just walking in love toward one another but increasing in it! As I read that a thought hit me, how does love keep increasing and increasing? It is because it spreads to more and more people! Love will spread faster than the coronavirus on a cruise ship. When we walk in love it will draw people to us and will cause a multiplication of love that will affect others
You can changes lives today by walking by faith and loving those around you!