1 Thessalonians 2:5
“For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness”.
The Lord wants us to tell others about Him. God loves everyone and wants to know them. We can see His desire in the Garden after the fall. He is looking for them and says to Adam, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9).
The Lord loves us and seeks us the same way. While His voice isn’t audible, He reaches out all day, every day. He crafts circumstances to protect us, help us and help us. He is limited in what He does, as we have to give Him permission. Most of His reaching out is to draw us to Himself, so we’ll connect with Him and bow our knees.
The Lord uses people to share His message with others. Paul talks about the future judgement and says in 2 Corinthians 2:11, “we try to persuade men”.
Today’s verse speaks of the genuiness of Paul’s approach. There wasn’t any flattery, nor was he trying to make money off them. That would have been a tainted persuasion. The message is what brought them, not flattery.
We are also to speak to others about Christ. We are to pray for them and bring up the message. It’s difficult. In our day our culture is biased against Christ. Tv and the media mock christians and their beliefs. Education exalts reason and science and belittles faith. Most people have mental obstacles due to this. Our sharing isn’t to include begging or empty promises, etc.
We are to be genuine in our sharing. Our lives are part of the message. To those who are open “we are the aroma of Christ”. However, for those that aren’t it’s quite the opposite (2 Corinthians 2:15). The ones who are open will appreciate us and seek us out. It’s those opportunities that we are to share. We don’t need to flatter or be disingenuous. The Lord is drawing them.
Lord, help us to be “the aroma of Christ”. Help us to share about you more.