Now there is a greeting that will knock you back a moment. "We always give thanks to God for all of you." Other translations put it: "We give thanks to God always for all of you." And maybe Paul was pouring it on a little thick, but it is a greeting that will put one on the defensive, because if we are honest, we cannot reply that we have always been praying for Paul. If we are honest, we cannot say that we are always faithful in our prayers at all. Paul tells the church at Thessalonica that he is always praying for them and giving thanks to God for them. But if we are honest we cannot tell each other that we are always praying for each other. In fact, there are days when I never get to my devotional life. So there goes "always" automatically.

Even more typically, the focus of our prayer …