1 Thessalonians 2:13, “13 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe.

The phrase “for this reason” is a literary reminder to throw our attention up to the previous passage where the Apostle Paul makes reference for how the Thessalonians are bearing fruit in the midst of trials and challenges, and in verse 13 the Apostle Paul attributes the bearing of fruit to what… the Thessalonians “receiving the word of God (do you see it), not as the word of mere men, but as the word of God.”

This is so important.  What we hold in our hands is not just pieces of paper bound into a book, or lit up on our phone, but we are holding God’s Words!