made worthy and full of glory

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12

As in almost all of Paul's letters, he includes his prayer for the church. Paul is concerned that the Thessalonians would be worthy of God's calling and that they would see fruit from their work and faith so that Jesus would be glorified in them and they would be glorified in Him. Paul picks up on his favourite theme: grace. The only way that Paul's prayer will be answered is because of the grace of God in Christ Jesus.
This prayer is packed! His first request is that they would be made worthy of the calling of God. This is obviously only by the grace of God and it is no wonder that Christ would be glorified if this prayer was answered - it would be a testament to his power and the completion of his work. The catch is that we are probably least worthy of the calling when we feel the most worthy of the calling. I saw Narnia: Caspian last night (I know, I'm behind in my movie watching - that's what having a child and living on one income will do to you) and the line that stood out to me was when Prince Caspian said, "I'm not sure that I'm ready." Aslan replied, "That's what makes me sure you are." The same goes for our calling - we are at our best and most worthy when we realize that we are not ready and not worthy because that forces us to lean and rely on the One who is and who can make us worthy.
The second request is that every desire for goodness and every deed prompted by faith would be brought to fruition. Can you imagine?! This ties closely to what the Psalm says about God giving me the desires of my heart and what Jesus says about asking for anything in his name. The key is at the beginning of the request: "by his power..." There seems to be two mindsets that people fall into: it is all up to me and my efforts or I can just sit back and do nothing because it is all up to God and by his strength. Paul agrees with both - work hard with a complete reliance on God's power. His power will bring to fruition my work as long as my work is motivated by my faith in God's power ("every deed promtped by faith").
The ultimate desire is the glory of Christ. I am only worthy of God's call when I am seeking Christ's glory and not my own. My deeds and desires will only be brought to fruition when they are motivated by Christ's glory and not my own. I must not serve myself. I must not even serve this church. I must serve Christ above all else. It is for Christ and his glory!
God, may this be true of me.