1 Thessalonians 2:9 9For you remember, brothers [and sisters], our labor and hardship; by working night and day in order not to be a burden to any of you we preached to you the gospel of God.
Paul challenges the Thessalonians to remember the difficult time he, Silas, and Timothy had while in Thessalonica and their other experiences that the Thessalonians had heard about. The labor and hardship in verse 9 could refer to Paul’s effort to be self-supporting as a tent maker in his ministry. It may have been difficult to set up shop with the relatively short visit in the city, but he could have plied his skills in any open market in just about any city.
This reference could also refer to his hard work in preaching the gospel and how this resulted in persecution. He wrote to the Corinthians, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not empty, but I worked harder than all of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Sharing the gospel is a form of work and requires sincere and faithful effort. This effort is supported and sustained by God’s grace. The emphasis in this verse may be more on the second option and how the missionaries preached the gospel. The reason for the Thessalonians to remember Paul’s difficult experiences is that they could see the outcome of their own salvation and seek to carry on this mission to their community.
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