affliction...joy... when do these two words go together?
this verse deffinitly caught my attention when i read over it!! is there any other context in which this could be said, other than in following Christ? just this morning i read in my personal devos, where it says in james 1:2 "count it all joy when you fall into various trials". this Christian walk is so counter-cultural. so, far outside of what we learn to think like in this world. we read here in 1 thess 1:6, where paul recounts the story of these guys coming to Christ. it deffinitly was a time of "much affliction", acts chapter 17, when paul went preaching there in thessolanica. thier reception was... less than warm. the people of thessolanica went so far as to follow paul to the next town he went to, and stir up problems for him there too!!! the early believers of thessolanica truly knew what persecution was like, and yet, they still recieved the Gospel "with joy of the Holy Spirit(for He is our source of Joy)"!!! ...then they "became examples"!!! ...i'm just about overwhelmed here by the story of these guys, how about you?
