Paul's Commendation for Their Growth

1 This letter is from Paul, Silas and Timothy. We are writing to the people of the church in Thessalonica. You belong to God the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that God will continue to help you. We pray that he will give you peace in your minds.

2 We thank God for all of you at all times. Every time that we pray, we always pray for you.

3 We speak about you to God, who is our Father. We remember the good things that you do. You do those things because you believe Christ. You work very much because you love Christ and other people. We remember also how you continue to hope strongly because of our Lord Jesus Christ. [1]

4 You are like brothers and sisters to us, and God loves you. We know that God has chosen you to be his own.

5 We know that, because our good news came to you not only with words. When we told it to you, the power of God's Spirit was there too. Also, we felt completely brave and strong when we spoke. You know how we lived among you. You know what kind of people we were. We were like good guides for you.

6 And you learned to live as we lived. So you learned also to live like the Lord. People caused you a lot of trouble and pain because you believed the message about Christ. But you did believe it, and God's Spirit caused you to be very happy.

7 And so you became like a guide to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. [2]

8 Because of you, people in many places have listened to the message about the Lord. It was not only the people in Macedonia and in Achaia who listened to these things. But people everywhere know how you believe God. So, we do not need to say anything.

9 Those people themselves speak about how you believed our message. They tell how you turned to God. They tell us how you stopped worshipping false gods. They themselves say that you are now God's servants. God is alive, and only he is really God.

10 Also, you are waiting for God's Son to come from heaven. God caused his Son, Jesus, to become alive again after he had died. And Jesus saves us so that God will not be angry with us at that future time. [3]