I Thessalonians 2:17
“But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short while—in person, not in spirit—were all the more eager with great desire to see your face.”
Paul loved people. I’m not sure what he was like before Christ. We know he supervised Stephen’s death (Acts 7:58). He certainly was a leader. There isn’t much evidence of him loving others.
Stephen’s martyrdom was a big deal. Paul was all about major events, even before Christ. Loving others can be a challenge for those that have strong leader traits. Individuals seem so small when compared to the movement. Paul would need to grow in this area.
He had difficulty seeing the potential in others. He lost patience with John Mark on one of their journeys. This split up the team of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 25:38,39). His attitude changed, as he asked for John Mark to join him (2 Timothy 4:11).
Today’s verse has Paul yearning to rejoin the Thessalonians. He says he’s with them in spirit and he’s “eager with great desire to see your face.” This appears to be a major change. Paul was like a military general, now he is a lover of people. He’s using very personal terms. Our culture sees his words as too personal for a guy.
Paul learned the importance of the individual. Jesus modeled this when He scolded his disciples for keeping the children from Him (Luke 18:16,17). The disciples were caught up in how their culture viewed children. One can see this coming from the pharisees. They had a sense of importance and formality. There didn’t seem to be many smiles. It’s as if they were busy with adult matters. The disciples saw Jesus and His mission in the same way. People needed to be healed, they needed to hear the gospel and so on. There wasn’t time to break for children. Jesus saw it otherwise. We can see Him bending down to greet the children.
Paul was still a great leader. Yet, he knew the importance of the individual. He had learned it from Jesus. We know that he met The Lord personally on the road to Damascus ((Acts 9). Some think Paul received more tutoring from The Lord when he went to Arabia (Galatians 1:17).
Lord, help us to love others? Help us to eagerly want to see them?