“AND WE HAVE confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ” (2 Thess. 3:4–5). This passage again links command and grace. Paul tells the Thessalonians that he has “confidence in the Lord” that they “are doing and will do the things” which he commands. Apart from Jesus Christ, that would have been another Law of Moses, only this time it would have been the Law of Paul. The next verse, however, directs their hearts “to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” In doing this, Paul not only saved these disciples from a legalism in fulfilling his commands, but he also saved himself from being a lawgiver. He took them beyond himself and pointed them to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. It was no longer between Paul and the Thessalonians, but between the grace of God and the Thessalonians, with Paul on the sidelines urging them to that grace and that steadfastness. He was never greater than in that hour. The heart of the man is revealed. As he steps out of the picture, he steps into it—the greater for having stepped out.
Another thing emerges: he had confidence in the Lord about them. If he had not introduced them to the grace of God and to the steadfastness of Christ, then he would have had to say, “I have confidence in my power over you that you are doing and will do the things I command.” That would have left Paul tense and anxious, as every dictator must be, wondering whether he can put things across. Instead he was confident and assured in the Lord. He stood off and watched God and the Thessalonians work it out together. Everybody and everything was fulfilled.
Our confidence wavers and fades unless it is a confidence in the Lord. That confidence in the Lord is fed by the grace of God and the steadfastness of Christ. It is confidence well-grounded.
O grace of God, and O steadfastness of Christ, my confidence is buttressed by Thee. My anchor holds, held by these two prongs. I believe in people because I believe in Thee. I keep on believing, sometimes in spite of. I thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Confidence in the Lord about people, that is the secret of making people.
