After reading Joel about the Day of the Lord, I thought I would turn to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, a letter where he addressed the Day of the Lord 300 years after Joel did.
I didn’t get very far before I was struck by a new-to-me realization. In chapter 1, verse 3, Paul wrote about the work of faith, the labor of love, and the steadfastness of hope, traits the Thessalonian church demonstrated. Most people are familiar with faith, hope, and love from 1 Corinthians 13:13. But work, labor, and steadfastness? I hadn’t really put those together.
So, what is the work of faith? I skimmed through familiar passages of the New Testament and came up with 7 things. I know there are more, but 7 seemed a good place to start.
1. Influence others by telling your story (2 Corinthians 10)
2. Remember your salvation is in Christ alone (Galatians 2).
3. Share the gospel (Romans 10)
4. Protect your heart (Ephesians 6)
5. Keep striving (Philippians 3)
6. Take care of each other (James 2)
7. Train yourself for godliness (1 Timothy 4).
That’s quite a list and definitely a lot of work. But faith is intangible, and by doing this work, out faith will sustain us through the worst and best of times.
Defaulting to Grace 
Thanks, Stephanie, for drawing attention to these critical Christian Values. May the Lord continue to enable and empower us to pit them in practice in our lives. May we live up to them. Amen
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