³But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. ⁴We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. ⁵May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”

If there is one thing we can count on, it is this: the Lord is faithful! If He were not, then all is lost. It is because He is faithful that we can trust His promises. It is because He is faithful to keep His Word that we are saved and can know we are saved. We can have assurance of eternal life because He does what He says He will do. And therefore, we can trust that “He will strengthen and protect us from the evil one.” Praise God!

These persecuted Thessalonians were being tempted to go astray of right doctrine. They were young believers, and the enemy of their souls was trying to knock them off the truth of the message of the gospel, that God is a God of grace. If He were not a God of grace, then they (and we) would be bogged down in the impossible task of trying to earn our salvation through good works. We would become subject to all sorts of wild doctrine, because if God were not faithful to His Word, then we would need to look for some other “truth” on which to securely build our lives, something less than God. If God were not faithful, nothing and no one could be faithful or provide a foundation for truth.

Notice how Paul words his next thought. His confidence is first in the Lord (he practices what he preaches), and because of that, he is confident that the Thessalonians will follow his instructions to them. But is this true? Does this mean Paul believes they will never stray? Every single one of them? Or is this Paul’s desire for them, stated in an exertion of confidence, setting the bar of expectation high for them? Indeed, how could any of us stray if an apostle expresses such confidence in us?

The wording is quite terse and straightforward. Paul believed God is faithful, and that is what keeps him serving the Lord in the face of persecution. In everything he said and did, he taught his converts to follow his example. So also, the Thessalonians’ belief in the faithfulness of God engenders his confidence that their walk will continue in faithfulness. Paul’s confidence does not imply a guarantee that they would never stray. But he does mean to say that the believer who continues to believe in the faithfulness of God will walk confidently in the Lord. The Christian’s faithfulness is rooted in the faithfulness of God. Thus the apostle prays that God would continually guide the desires of their heart toward Him.

Lord, please continually direct my heart toward You, for my faith is often weak.