Inspired by First Thessalonians 1:1-3, two friends in a coffee shop open a new book with three short verses and can’t get past one line. They talk through faith that produced actual work, love that produced labor, and hope in Jesus that held a young church steady while their neighbors turned on them. They notice the three land in different directions, one looking back at what’s already done, one sitting in today, one waiting out front. No clean answers, just two guys wondering whether their own hope is holding anything up.
Tom: You get coffee yet, or you want me to flag him down?
Ray: Nah, he’s coming. He saw me.
Tom: Alright. So I read the first three verses of Thessalonians this morning. That’s it. Three verses.
Ray: That’s not much.
Tom: It’s not, but there’s this one line stuck in my head. He says he remembers their work of faith, their labor of love, and their patience of hope.
Ray: Huh.
Tom: And I kept thinking, none of those are just feelings. They all did something.
Ray: Yeah. Okay. Say more.
Tom: Well, like faith. I always think of faith as, I don’t know, believing stuff and sitting there believing it. But he says work of faith.
Ray: So faith that shows up somewhere.
Tom: Right. And that’s the part that bugs me a little.
Ray: Why?
Tom: Because half the stuff I do I’m not sure comes from faith. I think it just comes from, like, being raised to do it.
Ray: Man, yeah.
Tom: I mow my mom’s yard. Is that faith or is that just I’d feel bad if I didn’t?
Ray: Probably both? I don’t know.
Tom: That’s what I keep landing on. Probably both.
Ray: What was the second one?
Tom: Labor of love. And I looked it up; the word is like toil. Wearing yourself out.
Ray: Well, that tracks.
Tom: Does it?
Ray: Yeah, I mean. Loving people is tiring. Nobody says that out loud, but it is.
Tom: Sure.
Ray: Like with Dad. That last year. I loved him, but I was also just, I was cooked, man. And I felt guilty about being cooked.
Tom: You never told me that.
Ray: Didn’t really want to.
Tom: Huh.
Ray: Anyway. So Paul’s not saying love feels good, he’s saying it’s work.
Tom: I think so. He’s kind of complimenting them for it. Like he noticed how much it cost them.
Ray: That’s not nothing.
Tom: No.
Ray: And the third one?
Tom: Patience of hope. In Jesus. And apparently that’s where the whole letter’s headed, him coming back.
Ray: Okay.
Tom: And patience there isn’t like waiting on a table at a restaurant. It’s more like carrying something heavy and not setting it down.
Ray: That’s a different thing.
Tom: Totally different thing.
Ray: So what are they carrying?
Tom: I think their neighbors turned on them. They were catching grief for it. It was a pretty new church, like months old.
Ray: Months.
Tom: Yeah.
Ray: And they’re already getting it from everybody.
Tom: Apparently.
Ray: Man, I’ve been at this thirty years, and I don’t know if I’d hold up that well.
Tom: Me neither. That’s the part I can’t shake.
Ray: Hmm.
Tom: Oh, and the other thing. It’s three again. Faith, love, hope. Somebody pointed out to me once that it lines up with Father, Son, and Spirit.
Ray: Does it though?
Tom: I believe so. It makes sense. But there’s something else I noticed about it.
Ray: What?
Tom: They’re all in different times. Like, faith is looking backward. It’s about something that already got done.
Ray: The cross.
Tom: Yeah. Already happened. Nothing to add to it.
Ray: Okay.
Tom: And love’s just in the present, today. Whoever’s sitting in front of you.
Ray: And hope’s out front somewhere.
Tom: Right. Hope’s the part that hasn’t happened yet.
Ray: Huh. Past, present, future.
Tom: Basically.
Ray: That’s kind of neat.
Tom: I didn’t come up with it. Somebody said it to me years ago, and it stuck.
Ray: Still.
Tom: And it’s three all over the place in the Bible once you start looking.
Ray: My grandma used to say God likes threes.
Tom: Well. She wasn’t wrong.
Ray: She wasn’t usually.
Tom: Anyway, my hope’s kind of, I don’t know. Quiet? Like I believe it, but it’s not holding anything up day to day.
Ray: What would it look like if it was?
Tom: That’s what I’m asking you.
Ray: I got nothing.
Tom: Great. Thanks.
Ray: Ha. Well, maybe you don’t notice hope until you actually need it like nobody thinks about their knees till one goes.
Tom: That’s a terrible comparison.
Ray: It’s not the worst one.
Tom: It’s pretty bad.
Ray: Look, all I’m saying is those people had something pressing on them, and their hope showed up because it had to. Yours might be fine. It’s just not being tested.
Tom: Maybe.
Ray: Or maybe not. I don’t know.
Tom: One more thing. Paul doesn’t call himself an apostle in this one. He just says Paul.
Ray: Is that weird?
Tom: In the other letters he leads with it. But these folks knew him. He’d worked a job at tentmaking right there in town with them.
Ray: So he didn’t have to prove anything.
Tom: Right.
Ray: That’s kind of nice, actually.
Tom: Yeah.
Ray: Not having to prove anything to people who know you.
Tom: That’s rare.
Ray: It is.
Tom: You want a refill? I’m getting one.
Ray: Yeah, go ahead. Hey, what time is it?
Tom: Quarter till.
Ray: Oh. I gotta get the truck in by nine.
Tom: Go on then.
Ray: I’ll think about the hope thing.
Tom: Sure you will.
Ray: I will.
Created by Steve
God’s Word…
Holman Christian Standard Bible
First Thessalonians 1:1-3
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians’ Faith
2 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. 3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.