Essential Elements

                    Feeling loved and valued is essential to a sense of fulfilling happiness.  Love has many elements (I Corinthians 13:4-7) and so many ways of being expressed (I John 3:18), but we don't always internalize other's efforts to show love to us.  Paul elaborated on the love he had demonstrated for the Christians in Thessalonica.  Even though he had lived out this love among them, it had to feel great to them to hear it proclaimed again.  We never tire of hearing about how someone loves us, do we?

...we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our lives as well.  (I Thessalonians 2:8)

                    Paul here seems to expose two elements of love not identified in I Corinthians:  delight and investment.  These are two of the most satisfying aspects of love.  Not everyone who loves us delights in us or is willing to invest in our growth.
                    Delight suggests a sweet joy--the kind that makes someone's eyes light up when they hear your name, or hear your voice, or catch sight of you, or even when they think of you.

I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy....  (Philippians 1:3, 4)

                    Delight has to do with an eagerness, not just a willingness, to spend time with, to listen to, to get to know and to enjoy someone.  It is best felt when you have a sense that someone "gets" you and loves you anyway--perhaps not in spite of , but because of who you are.
                    Then there is that investment part.  People pay money--lots of it--to be mentored by "life coaches".  But what if someone values you enough to invest time and attention in you free of charge, just because they believe in your potential?  Who isn't encouraged by having  their worth affirmed?   Who doesn't love to have someone in their life not just interested, but fascinated by them?  In the context of I Thessalonians, the investment is boundless--more than just a transfer of knowledge, it is life-giving mentorship.
                    Being mentored may not be essential for survival, but it surely is essential for personal growth.  It is such an honor to have someone willing/delighted to invest themselves in you.   It makes you feel they believe in your potential and care about your future.

He is the one we proclaim admonishing and teaching everyone  with all wisdom, so that we may present eveyone  fully mature in Christ.  To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.  (Colossians 1:28, 29)

                    Most of us need an objective, outside look at ourselves, but it is rarely palatable--whether flattering or critical--unless it comes from someone who loves us.  Those of us given to self-doubt especially need others to remind us how God feels about us.  It reminds me of the lyrices to Jason Gray's beautiful song, "Remind Me Who I Am":

                         When I lose my way,
                          and forget my name
                          Remind me who I am.
                          In the mirror all I see
                          Is who I don't wanna be.
                          Remind me who I am.

                          In the loneliest places
                          When I can't remember what grace is

                          Tell me once again
                          Who I am to you, who I am to you
                          Tell me, lest I forget
                          Who I am, that I belong to you
                          To You

                          When my heart is like a stone,
                          And I'm running far from home
                          Remind me who I am.

                          If I'm your beloved can you help me believe it?

                          Tell me once again
                          Who I am to you, who I am to you.
                
                    I believe one of the reason God designed the church, instead of our just having a one on one relationship with him, is so that he could speak to us through one another of his love.  He has filled the New Testament with what he would like that fellowship to look like.  God is always trying to tell us who we are to him--the cross says it most profoundly, but he wants us to hear it from one another, too.  We all need words of affirmation.  We need people willing to mentor us.  We need warm embraces.  We need to see in each other's eyes the same look that I believe Jesus had with everyone he met--unmistakable, unconditional love.  We can bring God's love into clearer focus for each other if we'll delight in one another and share our lives and our faith with one another.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong--that is, that  you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith.  (Romans 1:11, 12)

                    Perhaps Paul wasn't talking about a miraculous gift of the Spirit here.  Maybe he was talking about the gift of love, or mentoring or encouragement.  Be a gift to someone today.  Let someone know you delight in them.