Paul affirmed the Thessalonians for their imitating of him and his colleagues. What was his proof of this imitating amongst the Thessalonians? That they received the word in "much affliction."

This is one of the core problems (if not THE core problem) of the church today. We THINK that people have received the word when, in all actuality, they might have an affinity for the word, at best. But they usually do not fully receive the word, welcoming God to fully possess them and transform them.

This is because the call to salvation has been separated from the call to discipleship. We make it far too easy to "receive" Christ. Then we wonder why these so-called converts balk at discipleship. But, alas, nothing soothes the ego of pastors like a "successful" altar call.

When the call to discipleship is one and the same as the call to be saved, we will then see Christ-followers who truly imitate Christ, who actually obey their pastors and elders, and make Paul's heart cry their own: "...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death." (Phil. 3)

1 Thessalonians 1:6