Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

First Thessalonians chapter 2, verses 19 and 20,

for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting

before our Lord Jesus at His coming?

Is it not you?

For you are our glory and joy. What a picture. This is amazing. This is Paul. Looking forward to the day when Jesus comes back, when he stands before

Jesus, and he says on that day, what's going to be my hope? What's my joy? What's my crown of boasting?

What am I going to be by God's grace in my life proud of? He says, it's you. You are my glory,

my joy, our glory, our joy that when I stand before Jesus, what I'm going to be most excited about

is you standing before Jesus. This is an amazing picture to live your life with such a focus

on others and helping others grow in Jesus because you know when Jesus comes back, you want to

have been faithful with the grace he's entrusted to you.

And faithfulness looks like living for other people to be standing before God on that day,

looking like Jesus, being drawn to faith in Jesus, having grown in faith in Jesus because of our lives. That's the picture.

That's the joy that Paul has in mind. This will make me so happy to stand before Jesus one day

with you knowing Paul's worked to lead these people to Jesus. He's worked to help them grow

in Jesus. And I just want to encourage you, even as I'm freshly challenged in my own life, let's

live for this today, knowing Jesus could come back at any point.

So when Jesus comes back, who are we going to have lived for?

Who's going to be standing before Jesus as a result of our lives?

Because we led them to Jesus or helped lead them to Jesus and help them

grow in Jesus that we gave our lives with joy to helping them be able to stand that day

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