1 Thessalonians 2:8
"We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us."

I was thinking about time this morning. In eastern cultures, such as China, a lifetime is viewed very differently from our American idea of a lifetime. So often, we look at our lives in relation to a line. We look at the past and use the excuse of whatever happened wasn't our choice. Then, we look at the future as somthing that doesn't exist because it hasn't happened yet. So that leaves us locked into the here and now and creates the "live in the moment" culture. The present is something we use to justify life and why we do what we do.

In eastern cultures, they view a lifetime as something that is interrelated. Eastern cultures, such as, China are known for seeking advice and guidance from their ancestors. Most of us have run into an example of this in the Disney movie Mulan. In this movie a girl has a dragon that is supposed to guide her in her choices for the future. The Chinese look in their past to see what events or people made them who they are in the present and use what ever their past was to make decisions in the future.

In the passage above we are told that the Paul was using his story to encourage and teach those in Thessalonica. I think that because we live in a "live in the moment" culture we forget the importance of our past and the power that it has to reach a world that is seeking for something more out of life despite of who they are. Jews in Jesus time were reminded constantly of where they come from to influence them to make healthy moral decisions for their current life. It is not a new thing to apply the past to life decisions. I think the eastern cultures have the right idea in that we need to embrace all of time to be able to become all that we are intended to be so that we can show all the world their purpose.