“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” 2 Thessalonians 1:3
“Faith is growing … love … is increasing” … faith is a gift from God, created through the means of His grace. Through these means, God also grows our faith. He matures and strengthens our confidence and trust in Jesus as our only Savior.
Faith is not completed or made better by love; faith is sufficient in and of itself to connect us with God’s salvation. However, faith grows in understanding, becomes steadier in the face of persecution, and naturally produces good works for the neighbor who needs them. Through faith, a person has been made a new creation, a good tree that produces more and more good fruit. Love increases as faith grows. A Christian’s faith in Christ should always culminate in true love for others.
Paul gives thanks for God’s grace at work among the Thessalonians, by which He has created faith and love in them. We, too, should “be imitators of God”. In this way, we will be, as Luther puts it, little Christs, “helping our neighbor through our body and its works”. Christ is indeed our example, but, much greater and higher than that, He is our Savior. He suffered in our place, and on account of our sins.
God’s blessings on your day…