1 Thessalonians 2

₁Friends, you know very well that our work with you did not fail. ₂You also know how we suffered in the town of Philippi before we came to you. Those people did bad things to us. There were also people in the town of Thessalonica who tried to stop us, but God helped us to keep on preaching the Good_News. ₃We told you what to do and we did it like people who know the truth. We did not do it because we wanted to get something for ourselves or to deceive you. ₄No, God tested and approved us before He gave us the Good_News to bring to you. And when we preach it, we don't try to please people. We say only what God wants, because He is the One who tests our hearts and knows why we do things.

₅You know that we have never tried to say things just to please people. We also did not say we are good to try and get your money. God knows that I speak the truth. ₆We also do not want people to praise us, not you or any other people. ₇Because we are apostles of Christ, we could have asked you to help us and take care of us. But we did not ask you. We were like children while we were with you. We did not ask you to help us. No, we were the ones who helped you and we took care of you like a mother takes care of her baby. ₈We love you very much and we wanted to be with you. That is why we decided to come to you and give ourselves to you and preach the Good_News to you.

₉Friends, can you remember how hard we worked and how much we sweated while we were with you? We worked day and night to pay for our own food and a place to stay, because we did not want to ask you to help us and take care of us. That is how we preached God's Good_News to you.

₁₀You know and God also knows what we were like to you who believe in Him. We were pure and righteous, and no one could accuse us of doing anything wrong. ₁₁You know that we loved each one of you like a father loves his children ₁₂and we talked to you like a father talks to his children, encouraging you, comforting you and asking you to live like Christians because it is God who chose you, and He wants to be your King and rule over you.

₁₃That is why we thank God that you believed the words that we preached to you. You did not think they were words that came from people. You believed that they were really the words of God. His Word is working in you who believe in Him now. ₁₄Friends, you are doing the same things as the congregations of God in the province of Judea do. They are also people who believe in Christ Jesus. You have also suffered like they do. You suffered because of the things that your own people did to you, like the congregations in Judea who have suffered because of the things that the Jews did to them. ₁₅It was the Jews who killed Jesus and the prophets, and chased us away. The Jews don't do what God wants and they are against all people. ₁₆They try to stop us when we preach the message to the Gentiles. They do not want God to save them. The sins of the Jews have become more and more and they have become so guilty that God is going to punish them now.

₁₇Friends, we are away from you for a short while. You can not see us, but we think of you and you are in our hearts. We have really tried hard to come to you because we long to see you again. ₁₈Yes, we really wanted to come to you. I, Paul, have tried to come a few times, but Satan has stopped me. ₁₉I wanted to visit you because you are the ones that we are proud of. What will we get for the work that we have done? What can we show our Lord Jesus when He comes again? We can show you to Him. ₂₀You are the people whom we will be proud of, and we will rejoice over you.