Spiritual warfare: But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 2 Thessalonians 3:3

The Christian spiritual warfare is a constant message in all the texts of the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew gives as an example Jesus, who, after being baptized by John in the Jordan River, was taken to the desert to be tempted by the Evil One. Saint Matthew recounts that the Evil One offered him all the kingdoms of the world if he would worship him, but Jesus, aware of his mission, preferred to accept his destiny as savior of humanity. And like Jesus, all Christians, through baptism, have to make a similar choice, because as Jesus said with wisdom: "You cannot serve both God and money" Matthew 6:24.
Accepting Jesus as savior means living the gifts to seek the most important spiritual good, the gift of eternal life, the life that once obtained cannot be lost, the contemplative life; and striving to achieve this spiritual good means renouncing all the temptations that a world given over to sin offers: selfishness, love of money, success at any cost, and the contempt for one's neighbor. Spiritual warfare, then, is something that begins in the conscience of each Christian, and then translates into social actions.
And the apostle Paul, as a Christian preacher, was no stranger to this spiritual teaching. He, too, as an apostle, was an example, because he went from persecutor to fervent convert after a spiritual vision of Christ on his way to Damascus, darkness and light were presented to Paul, and he had to choose. This is why the apostle, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, wrote to the members of that Church to strengthen them in the faith with these words: "But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one" 2 Thessalonians 3:3. The apostle was concerned that the Thessalonians had lost their faith after all the difficulties he had faced in founding that Church.
The Second Letter to the Thessalonians is a good example of what it means to teach about spiritual warfare. Paul taught the Thessalonians to be attentive to the times and to live prepared, persevering in the righteous life, because at the end of time the ungodly man must be revealed, warned the apostle, and all the actions of men will be judged, both good and bad. This is why Paul ended his letter with a plea: "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance" 2 Thessalonians 3:5.

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