Key Verses: 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 

“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you abounds towards each other, so that we ourselves, boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecution and tribulations that you endure” 

Something that I spend a good deal of time thinking about is the health of our church here at Bentonia Baptist. Some people would look at the numerical growth of our church and assume that we must be an extremely healthy church. The problem with this however is that no where in the New Testament is the size of a church used to a way to measure the health of it. Here in 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4, Paul gives three reasons as to why he thanks God for this church. If one examines these three reasons, one will see that they are great ways to measure the health of a church. We will be looking at one of three reasons for the next three devotionals. 

The first reason why Paul thanks God for this church is because their faith is growing. This was a church that wasn’t just concerned with a shallow version of Christianity. They wanted to know the deep things of Scripture, but they also wanted to live out the truths of the Bible. They studied the teachings of Jesus, the prophecies and narratives of the Old Testament not only to learn information, but to allow the Holy Spirit to use that information to transform their life. A heathy church is full of people that are genuinely seeking God and growing in their faith. Does this describe you? Are you a person that is seeking to grow in their faith? Since the church is made up of individuals your own spiritual health impacts the health of the entire church. We all need to grow in spiritual maturity, so lets start taking our faith seriously today!