But Wait, There’s More! | 1 Thess 3:6-13

Written by Kate Powell 

Throughout First Thessalonians, Paul gives us a glimpse into the life of a young church learning what it means to follow Jesus faithfully. He encourages them to love one another, stand firm through opposition, and continue growing into a people set apart for God. 

Last week, we saw that growth being threatened. Paul warned the Thessalonians about the reality of spiritual opposition and feared that Satan, “the tempter,” might undermine the work God was doing among them. Unable to return himself, Paul sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage them in their faith. 

This week, Timothy returns—and the news is good. The Thessalonians are standing firm. Their faith and love are thriving. And isn’t it encouraging when you can actually see growth happening in your life? There’s something exciting about recognizing that you aren’t where you used to be. 

But as Paul responds to this encouraging news, he shows us that even when we are growing, God is not finished with us yet. 

As Paul moves from celebrating what God is already doing among the Thessalonians to praying for what He will continue to do within them, we get a beautiful picture of spiritual growth—and where that growth actually comes from. 

⁶But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. ⁷Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. ⁸For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. ⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith. —1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 

Paul celebrates their growth without assuming their growth is complete. He is deeply encouraged by where the Thessalonians are, but he also knows there is more.  

Think about that for a moment. These believers are standing firm in the middle of persecution. Their faith is strong. Their love for one another is evident. Paul is so encouraged by what he hears that he says, “now we really live.” That is a strong statement!  Hearing how well the Thessalonians were doing brought Paul renewed strength and joy. 

And yet, just two verses later, Paul is praying night and day that he might see them again and “supply what is lacking in your faith.” 

They were thriving, but they were still growing. In other words, there was more—more the Lord wanted to do in them and more room for their faith to grow. 

I love this picture of discipleship. Spiritual maturity isn’t a destination we finally arrive at. No matter how long we have followed Jesus or how much growth we have experienced, there is always more of Him to know and more room for Him to shape us. 

You can hear how deeply Paul longs to see the Thessalonians face to face. He knew there was something meaningful about being physically present with them—to encourage, strengthen, and continue discipling them in their faith. There is an intimacy that comes through being together that simply can’t be replicated in the same way from a distance. We experience this today when we sit across from someone we are discipling, gather to hear God’s Word, or simply walk alongside one another in person. 

Paul knows they need to continue growing, but what he does next is significant. He doesn’t simply give them a list of things to work harder at. He prays.  Specifically, his prayer reveals who he trusts as the source of their continued growth. 

In 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13, the Apostle Paul writes, 

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹²May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. 

God our Father goes first.  “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else…” (1 Thessalonians 3:12).  

May the Lord make… That changes everything. Paul doesn’t say, “You need to become more loving.” He asks our Father to cause their love to increase. And what Paul specifically asks our Father to increase here is their love. 

But there’s another important phrase in Paul’s prayer: “Just as ours does for you.” Paul isn’t asking the Thessalonians to live out something he hasn’t experienced himself. Paul knew what it was to be deeply loved by Christ. He writes in Galatians 2:20, “…the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” and says in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “Christ’s love compels us.” 

The love Paul received from Christ was now showing up in the way he loved the Thessalonians. He genuinely loved them. He longed to be with them. He prayed for them night and day. And now Paul prays that the Lord would increase their love so that it, too, would overflow into the lives of others. 

Love is one of your deepest human needs. You were created to receive love from your Heavenly Father. Scripture tells us, “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). It’s hard to overflow with something you haven’t first received. Before you can pour His love into the lives of others, you must first receive the love He has already poured out on you. Allow yourself to be known, loved, forgiven, and secure in Him. And then something happens: what you receive begins to overflow.  

Paul’s prayer shows us a pattern: 

Receive God’s love → God increases your love → love overflows to others → He strengthens your heart → your life increasingly reflects His holiness. 

But it’s easy to reverse that pattern. Instead of allowing your Father to go first and responding to the work He is doing within you, you can feel the pressure to produce the change yourself: Be holy. Try harder. Fix yourself. Get your behavior under control. Love difficult people better. Look more like Jesus. Paul starts somewhere different—with what our Father is doing within you. 

In verse 13, Paul prays that our Father would “strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy.” To be holy simply means to be set apart—set apart from the ways of the world and set apart for God. It is a life increasingly less ruled by sin, self, and the world and increasingly surrendered to Him. 

Paul doesn’t begin by telling them to clean themselves up and try harder to be holy. He begins with God: God increases their love, strengthens their hearts, and their lives increasingly reflect His holiness. 

That is the difference between performance-based Christianity and overflow Christianity. Performance says, “Jesus lived this way, so I need to try harder to live this way too.” Overflow says, “Jesus, produce Your life in me so abundantly that what You are doing inside of me naturally spills into the lives around me.” One begins with your effort. The other begins with His work. When you reverse that order, you can become increasingly frustrated, burned out, and eventually want to give up.  

So, let’s make this personal: Where have you been trying harder instead of allowing your Father to work deeper? Maybe you’ve been trying to make yourself more patient, more loving, more forgiving, or more holy. You’ve been focusing so much on what needs to change on the outside that you’ve forgotten where transformation actually begins. 

Instead of beginning with, “Jesus, what do I need to do better?” what if you began with, “Jesus, what do You want to produce in me?” 

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal where you have been striving to produce in your own strength what God wants to produce in you. Where have you been performing instead of receiving? Where are you trying harder instead of surrendering deeper? 

Then take some time to simply receive His love. Ask Him to increase that love. Ask Him to strengthen your heart. Ask Him to take the places still ruled by sin and self and set them apart for Him. Then trust that as He does His work within you, what He produces will begin to overflow from you. 

This is the invitation of 1 Thessalonians 3:6–13: you never stop growing, but your growth doesn’t continue with trying harder. It continues with receiving your Father’s love and allowing Him to do the work He initiates within you. 

The Father goes first. He loves. You receive. He increases your love. You overflow. He strengthens your heart. And your life is transformed. 

Let’s respond by asking Him to do that work within us:  

“Heavenly Father, I want to be faithful to You. Holy Spirit, reveal the places where I am striving instead of surrendering. Help me receive the Father’s love more deeply, and increase that love within me until it overflows into the lives around me. Strengthen my heart and continue to make me more like You. Amen.”