In 52 AD when Apostle Paul had traveled through the city of Thessalonica and established a church there, he together with his co-workers (Timothy and Silas) had to leave quickly because their work was disrupted by the Jews who did not want to believe the Gospel of the cross.

After Paul and his companions had left the Thessalonians and gone to Athens, the desire to know how they were standing in regards to the word they heard and how the persecution that they were facing from their oppressors had affected them was always burning in the heart of Paul.

Although the Apostle stated (in the letter to them- I Thessalonians 3:1-8) that they (Paul and his companions) had informed the Thessalonians beforehand about the trials that they were facing, he wanted to know if they had not given in to the difficulties, oppression, persecution or ordeal.

Then the statement “For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord” (I Thessalonians 3:8)…..zenith of love and concern.

Words as these demonstrate the level of love and care that Paul had for the Christians at Thessalonica. He ties into one loop the joy, success and victory of himself and his companions together with the how well the Thessalonians fared (stood firm in God). If Thessalonians fail, then Paul and his co-workers have achieved nothing (dead).

The level of concern demonstrated in the letter to these young Thessalonian Christians is a charge every Christian needs to uphold and stick to. They joy of a brother or sister should be the source of joy and energy for each other. Each Christian should be anxious and worried to know if the shepherds are overseeing the flock with all diligence, preachers are feeding the Christians rightly, old Christians are steadfastly persisting and young Christians are growing into maturity even when they are not present with them.

We can only live if and only if other children of God are successfully living the Christian life and striving hard to achieve perfection on the journey.

We can only live when other Christians are not discouraged and pulled down by the weights of their past life and the sins of this world.

We can only live when we believe fervently that our fellow brethren are still standing after a turbulent storm has hit them.

Although on some regrettable occasions, some Christians think and behave erroneously as if the growth of one Christian is a hindrance to the joy of him/herself. In the Christian race many can be winners and as well a large number can be losers. How beautiful will it appear when we together with other brethren become winners on the day of accountability?

May we imitate Paul as he also emulated Christ, being eager to know the state of the Thessalonians at his own expense by sending Timothy to them just like Christ, willing to save a sinful world at the cost of his own life.

In supply/value chain management, the axiom, the chain is as strong as the weakest link in the chain reinforces the idea of seeking the welfare of the next link in the chain and perfectly in line with Paul’s conviction “we live if you stand firm”. In the agribusiness circle, the survival of the poultry farmer, oil palm producer (manufacturers and processors) or chemical/farm input dealers depends in equal measure on how good the distributors/sellers (wholesale, retail) are faring as much as how reliable and consistent the input dealers/suppliers are.

Taking the time and energy to help improve the health and sometimes to cure the ill-state of agents who supply to or take from your business is tantamount to ensuring the vigor and continuous existence of one’s own business.

If businesses will start to look at collaboration much more than competition how great will the success story sound?

In a recent interview by Kojo Yankson (Joyfm, Super Morning Show host) with Mr. Albert Essien (Ecobank, outgoing CEO), he expressed a fascinating view on the emergence and growth of mobile money banking activities by the telecom companies. He although gives them the name “disruptors” believes the banking world must be working with the Telecoms rather fighting them so that as the mobile money activities in Ghana grows it will result in an inevitable growth of the banks.

If service providers will comprehend the true words “we live if you stand firm”, then their workers will always have that priceless smile on their faces when customers come to them with concerns. And if their superiors/management of companies will also come to terms with the same words, then they will ensure and guard the continuous happiness of these workers who toil for the firm, providing an excellent ambiance for them.

If current leaders of Africa will figure out that, they only “live” if citizens “stand firm”, probably they will come to terms with why the good people of Gold Coast wanted independence and it will be easy to also appreciate the roaring of the Tunisian and Egyptian citizens in the recent past and that will probably make them consider how well to help the country men.

Only if the good people of our homeland Ghana will grasp that we only stand firm if the country lives, then we may consider flushing any corrupt, malicious and ill intent from our minds and seek to right the wrongs that we continuously see in the land.