Now, likewise, there can hardly be, for a Christian, a greater cause of joy—the kind of delight that keeps us going in hard times—than to gain fresh evidence of the continuing faith of people we have loved. You know, as you grow as a Christian, as you serve the Lord, you kind of accumulate people in whose lives you have played a role. Maybe you were not the only one, but they are yours, in a sense, and you have a stake in their salvation. And you love them. They are your own children, your spiritual children, and you want to know how they are doing. And you get news:
Richard D. PhillipsOh, Joe is walking in the Lord,and you go,Oh, thank God, that’s great news.OrSusie has fallen away,and you are grieved. I have recently travelled to churches and been at dinner tables with Christians. I was just noting this weekend how often this subject came up. People would be talking about some other believer, and their standing firm in the Lord, and everybody’s hearts were lifted up; or about someone who is really not showing Christian priorities, and it distressed us. This is a matter near and dear to our hearts, and when someone is continuing in the faith, it shows salvation through Jesus Christ. How it picks us up, even in dark times, to learn of it.1
7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.