1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

International Children’s Bible

Paul’s Work in Thessalonica

2 Brothers, you know that our visit to you was not a failure. ² Before we came to you, we suffered in Philippi. People there insulted us. You know about that. And when we came to you, many people were against us. But our God helped us to be brave and to tell you his Good News. ³ Our message was a message to encourage you. We were not trying to lie. We had no evil plan. We were not trying to trick you. ⁴ But we speak the Good News because God tested us and trusted us to do it. When we speak, we are not trying to please men. But we are trying to please God, who tests our hearts. ⁵ You know that we never tried to influence you by saying nice things about you. We were not trying to get your money. We had no selfishness to hide from you. God knows that this is true. ⁶ We were not looking for praise from you or anyone else. We are apostles of Christ. When we were with you, we could have used our authority to make you do things.

⁷ But we were very gentle with you.^[a] We were like a mother caring for her little children. ⁸ Because we loved you, we were happy to share God’s Good News with you. But not only that, we were also happy to share even our own lives with you.