Pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. — 1 THESSALONIANS 5:17–18 My family remembers my Grandpa Dierking as a man of strong faith ...

The use of “imitators” binds this passage thematically to the Thanksgiving (1:6) and the fact that Paul and his co-workers had to leave Thessalonica due to persecution (Acts 17:1-14) gives us ...