I'm thinking today a verse in 1 Thessalonians
5. Pretty interesting. It says, But you, brethren,
are not about the coming of the Lord, the Lord's
day, when Jesus will come again. And in this
verse, Paul is telling the Thessalonians that
they will not be taken by surprise. To quote
Jesus, no one can know the day or the time. Only
the Father knows the day or the time of his own
second coming. But here Paul says that the brethren
at Thessalonica would not be taken by surprise.
So we can indeed not be taken by surprise when
Jesus comes again. But we have to realize, that
this was written in the context of the New Testament
church. It was written to people who were doing
church, people who were serving every single
day, people who were spending their lives together
with investing in each other as brothers and
sisters in Christ. That's why he threw in the
word brethren, if you ask me. That's why he was
saying, if you are the church, as I know you
are the church, as you are in community together,
and as you are working together to bring about
the will of the Lord in this day, you will not
be taken by surprise. We don't have to be afraid
that someday, just all of a sudden, Jesus is
going to show up and we're not going to be ready.
We just need to be. alert and ready and preparing
ourselves for that moment at which Jesus comes
again and will not be taken by surprise. And
praise God for it, that we're a part of the family,
the inner circle. If you're not, you're not serving,
you're not giving, you're not going, if you're
not as the church, I would encourage you to get
involved in the local church today and live life
in community as the New Testament leads. God
bless.