You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
in much affliction: "Affliction" is a comprehensive term that can refer to a great variety of difficulties, "pressure, oppression, affliction, distress" (Thayer 291-1-2347). The song writer asks, "Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease? No, there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me." Jesus himself warns of the difficulties his disciples would encounter in the world: "In this world ye shall have tribulation..." (John 16:33). Suffering on the part of the saints is so pervasive that Paul says, "Yea and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). It is all the more amazing that so many Thessalonians accepted the gospel, knowing that such acceptance would involve them in persecution, and, in many cases, untimely death.