used the term to describe people who were absconding from their work. Thirdly, Paul addressed himself to the ‘faint-hearted’, an element in the fellowship who were concerned about their departed loved ones (4:13–18) and indeed about their own hopes for salvation (5:1–11). Sex, work and bereavement figure in the lives of human beings the world over. The modern Christian needs to learn how to live for God in the face of these things every bit as much as the young converts in first-century Thessalonica.