2 Thessalonians 3:7-9
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
“OUGHTAWANTA!” You can check your dictionaries or thesauruses and I can almost assure you that you will not find this word. I have thought of this word for quite a little while now and becomes more evident all of the time.
Once I served on the staff of a large church. The senior pastor had a telephone number that ended with the digits 0202. One of the staff members commented during a staff meeting that he always felt A guilt complex when he called that number. He said all he could think about was: OUGHT TO! – OUGHT TO!
I still remember that chorus we used to sing in Sunday School: “Everybody ought to go to Sunday School, to Sunday School, to Sunday School. The men and the women and the boys and the girls, everybody ought to go to Sunday School.”
In today’s Scripture, Paul is putting himself out as an example to follow. It is not just putting people on a guilt trip, but living a life that is Christlike and righteous. He emphasizes the wanta rather than the oughta. The question I ask myself as well as passing it on to you is are we sharing guilt or desire? I hope it will be the desire to be more like Jesus because they see Him living in us.
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
– – – Pastor Cecil