2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are continuing to see the link between prayer, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's children, and their growth in the fruits that the Holy Spirit produces. Here, we see Paul committing himself to prayer that the Lord would fulfill every desire the Thessalonian church had for the fruit of goodness.
The Thessalonians were in the midst of severe affliction and persecution and Paul wants to assure them that they are always in his prayers. First, he tells them that they are a cause of praise and thanksgiving (verse 3) because of their growth in faith and love. In our text, he enlarges upon the content of the continual prayer of himself, Silas and Timothy and it is that they will continue to persevere in the trials (which is a clear sign from God that He counts them worthy of their call to be His children) and that God would grant for them every desire they have that is prompted by goodness or whose outcome is goodness.
"Goodness" in the Scriptures signifies moral excellence. To possess this constitutes the content of the life of the Christian, since it is something of which the unbeliever knows nothing. Thus Paul's concern for the Thessalonians in all their difficulties seems to focus on them being assured of their interest in Christ through the evidences of their perseverance, their desire to do good and to possess greater goodness, and their continued growth in faith through God's power. The end of all this would be the glory of God, through Whom alone could the Thessalonians endure and manifest these Christian fruits in the process.
In this instance, then, goodness (which we may often think of as an abstract quality) becomes to the Thessalonians one of the things they can look to in their trials when they are tempted to doubt and to abandon their calling. It is clear evidence of their interest in Christ and results in works that bring glory to God.
This growth in goodness is something we are commanded to do in Scripture, as Peter commands his readers to add moral excellence to their faith (2 Peter 1:5). So let's pray in this coming week that we may be obedient to the command, and may indeed grow in goodness and therefore in our assurance of faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.
