Book of Common Prayer

Greetings and thanksgiving

1 Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah: ² grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

³ We owe God a constant debt of gratitude concerning you, my dear family. It is only right and proper. Your faith is growing marvelously, and the love which every single one of you has for each other is multiplying. ⁴ As a result, we ourselves can tell all the churches of God how proud we are of you—of your patience and loyalty in all your troubles, and in all the sufferings you are going through.

⁵ All this is a clear sign of the just judgment of God, to make you thoroughly worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering— ⁶ since it is just, on God’s part, to pay back with suffering those who inflict suffering on you, ⁷ and to give you, with us, respite from your sufferings.

The coming of Jesus

This will come about when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, ⁸ in a flaming fire, meting out punishment to those who don’t know God and those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his power, ¹⁰ when he comes to be glorified in all his holy ones, and to be marveled at by all who believe in him, because our testimony to you was met with faith, on that day.

¹¹ To that end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his call, and may complete every plan he has to do you good, and every work of faith in power, ¹² so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Do not worry

²⁵ “So let me tell you: don’t worry about your life—what to eat, what to drink; don’t worry about your body—what to wear. There’s more to life than food! There’s more to the body than a suit of clothes! ²⁶ Have a good look at the birds in the sky. They don’t plant seeds, they don’t bring in the harvest, they don’t store things in barns—and your father in heaven feeds them! Think how different you are from them! ²⁷ Can any of you add fifteen inches to your height just by worrying about it?

²⁸ “And why worry about what to wear? Take a tip from the lilies in the countryside. They don’t work; they don’t weave; ²⁹ but, let me tell you, not even Solomon in all his finery was dressed as well as one of these. ³⁰ So if God gives that sort of clothing even to the grass in the field, which is here today and on the bonfire tomorrow, isn’t he far more likely to clothe you too, you little-faith lot?

³¹ “So don’t worry away with your ‘What’ll we eat?’ and ‘What’ll we drink?’ and ‘What’ll we wear?’ ³² Those are all the kinds of things the Gentiles fuss about, and your heavenly father knows you need them all. ³³ Instead, make your top priority God’s kingdom and his way of life, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴ “So don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow can worry about itself. One day’s trouble at a time is quite enough.”