I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.
1 Thessalonians 5:27 NIV
Read This Letter
In their 2025 Canadian Leisure and Reading Study, Booknet Canada discovered that 78% of Canadians chose to use at least some of their leisure time in 2024 with a book — this has been fairly steady over the last several years. A third of readers prefer reading or listening to books over other leisure activities. Though most said they sometimes prefer reading to other activities (40%) and 23% said they don’t mind reading books, but would prefer doing other things instead.
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I often wonder as I read the epistles if the authors knew that these letters would be read as part of God’s inspired Word of God in every generation of Jesus’ followers. How closely connected they must have been with the Lord Jesus as they wrote what they did, because He knew that they would be. Paul understood how important his first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica was, so in some of his final words he writes, in 1 Thessalonians 5:27: “I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.” Notice here that Paul did not suggest that this letter be read—he charged them before the Lord. This was not a casual instruction; it was and is God speaking to His children. The Word was not meant for a few, but for everyone. God’s truth is never intended to be hidden, hoarded, or reserved for the spiritually elite. It is life for the weary, strength for the weak, and hope for the discouraged. When the Word is spoken, hearts are awakened. When it is heard, faith rises. Today, open your Bible. Read it. Share it. Speak it. God will use it to change lives—including yours.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley