When "ought" means obligated...

When "ought" means obligated...Not just a "sweet suggestion":

"We ought always to thank God for you,

brothers and sisters,

and rightly so,

because your faith is growing more and more,

and the love all of you have for one another is increasing."

2 Thessalonians 1:3 - NIV

Are you a reason people gives thanks?

• How? (re-read the verse...)

• Is your faith in Jesus & His saving grace, growing?  

• Is your love as a people, a church: stagnant or vital, flowing?

A "Double obligation" to be:

• Thankful  
• A Cause of Thanks in others

"ought" - from οπηειλο: to owe (pecuniarily); figuratively, to be under obligation (ought, must, should); morally, to fail in duty:-behove, be bound, (be) debt(-or), (be) due(-ty), be guilty (indebted), (must) need(-s), ought, owe, should.    (from the NET)

Get your Greek Geek on!  1:3 Εὐχαριστεῖν ὀφείλομεν τῷ θεῷ πάντοτε περὶ ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί, καθὼς ἄξιον ἐστιν, ὅτι ὑπεραυξάνει ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν καὶ πλεονάζει ἡ ἀγάπη ἑνὸς ἑκάστου πάντων ὑμῶν εἰς ἀλλήλους...  

Dear Lord, thank you for growing, loving believers.

May I always be one of them!

Amen.

KSD  - Feb. 2016