Please read the text before the commentary.
“I worked night and day not to burden you.” Paul recapped his activities among the Thessalonians this way. He did it, not to brag or to call attention to himself. He did it to show the Thessalonians how God was working among the Thessalonians. Paul described it as encouragement for them.
Paul had hoped that the Thessalonians would have seen God’s hand at work in Paul’s preaching and living the message.
I want to preach God’s word. While I may phrase the word according to my talents and gift, I must proclaim, not myself. The process is to listen to the word, to process it according to our abilities, and then to proclaim in word and action, God’s word, not mine.
There is tension in this process. We all like to do our own thing, whereas God wants us to do God’s thing. Doing my word is iodolatry; doing God’s word is salvation. Paul gave thanks that the Thessalonians had accepted the word, not as Paul’s , but as God’s.