Back to 2 Thessalonians 2 today.

2 Thessalonians 2

¹³ But we have to keep thanking God for you always, brothers whom the Lord loves, because God chose you as firstfruits for deliverance by giving you the holiness that has its origin in the Spirit and the faithfulness that has its origin in the truth.

Firstfruits. There’s much more about firstfruits than I am prepared to give you here but I can tell you firstfruits are first mentioned in the KJV at Exodus 23:16. Here the Hebrews received GOD’s directives regarding His Feasts. They were to keep these every year at the appointed time. And so the firstfruits of the harvest were to be brought to the LORD at such a time as to remember when the Hebrews were delivered from the slavery of Egypt.

Look again at our verse for today. Chose you as firstfruits for deliverance. As surely as the Hebrews were delivered from the slavery of the Egyptians, we have been called to be delivered from the slavery of sin. At the moment of salvation we are delivered from the penalty of sin which is eternal death in hell. But that’s not all. At salvation we are given gifts and the two gifts spoken of here are just about beyond description for me.

Holiness.
We are given the gift of holiness by the impartation of the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD when He delivers us from eternal death to eternal life. Just ask Him to help you get yourself wrapped around that! Holiness. We have been given the gift of holiness! But how much do we walk it out in our 24/7?
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ² Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. Leviticus 19:1-2 

Faithfulness.
We have been gifted with the gift of faithfulness. Now wouldn’t we like to get our arms wrapped around that?! Do you know what that would mean in this world?! Just think about it. If every Christian consistently practiced the gift of faithfulness to GOD, Churches would thrive – the world’s hungry would be fed;  families broken by divorce and excess (the Christian ones) would be virtually nonexistent; and the effect of our faithfulness on the unsaved would be phenomenally beautiful!  I am going to refrain from going on and on with scenarios of what could be; but I hope you and the HOLY SPIRIT will ponder it together a moment or two longer. 

We lie and deceive ourselves if we say we cannot be faithful to GOD. We can learn! We learn to be faithful by embracing the Truth. Look at the verse again. Faithfulness has it’s origin in the Truth. Believe the truth. Live the truth and we will be faithful. GOD says so. And He does not lie! Ever!

Until Next Time ~ ~ ~ Kathie

ABBA, one my greatest struggles is seeing it here, writing it here and then not living it out there. But You are able and so I pray for us all to walk out these gifts of faithfulness and holiness not for our glory but Yours.