"For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Do you believe it?
Of course I believe it! I've been taught to believe it since I was a child! It's in the Bible, isn't it? Why wouldn't I believe it?
What have you done recently to prove you believe it? Where is the evidence? Why do you believe it?
I'm sure this is a conversation that almost every believer has had with themselves or with someone else at some point in their relationship with Christ. It sounds good as a passage of the Bible, it is immensely entertaining as a series of fiction. We expect to hear about it from the pulpit. But when you truly bring it home, when you look it in the eye and feel the doubt rise up within, what do you do? Do you turn away from it and be content to believe it from afar? Or do you look closer? Do you face your doubts and concerns and find whether or not they are warranted?
Jesus said we wouldn't know times and dates. But I can't find any reason to believe that we won't know it's coming, won't see the evidence for His return written across world events, hidden behind growing unrest and rebellion against God. I think it's obvious even in the pages of Revelation that the time He will return to claim His church is amazingly near. Even as the world grows more hostile to Christ, more unwilling to admit His deity and His love, our hearts compel us to simply wait patiently a little longer, for the hour is close.
After all, He is only waiting for that last soul that will claim Him as Lord. He won't hesitate a moment after that.
So what will you do with your faith in His return? Will you live your life for yourself? Will you accumulate possessions and store up wealth you are soon to leave behind? Can you really worry over the future, over growing old, over death? In the light of such astounding truth can you be content to pursue no more than the daily tasks that are survival?
I challenge you today to think of ways to show your Lord you are ready, and anxious to hear the trumpet sound announcing his imminent arrival. I urge you to make known your faith in some tangible way. I was prompted several years ago to fill a manila envelope with letters, postage, a new testament, and further instructions for those I might leave behind when we are called to a meeting in the air. It's marked "Not to be opened except in the case of our disappearance" and it's waiting in a drawer of my dining room hutch for someone to find after we leave. I pray it will be of eternal use to someone.
What will you do? The time is coming soon. If you stop to listen, you'll hear the promise, whispered sweetly and softly in the breeze. I am coming soon.
What will your response be?
Do you believe it?
Of course I believe it! I've been taught to believe it since I was a child! It's in the Bible, isn't it? Why wouldn't I believe it?
What have you done recently to prove you believe it? Where is the evidence? Why do you believe it?
I'm sure this is a conversation that almost every believer has had with themselves or with someone else at some point in their relationship with Christ. It sounds good as a passage of the Bible, it is immensely entertaining as a series of fiction. We expect to hear about it from the pulpit. But when you truly bring it home, when you look it in the eye and feel the doubt rise up within, what do you do? Do you turn away from it and be content to believe it from afar? Or do you look closer? Do you face your doubts and concerns and find whether or not they are warranted?
Jesus said we wouldn't know times and dates. But I can't find any reason to believe that we won't know it's coming, won't see the evidence for His return written across world events, hidden behind growing unrest and rebellion against God. I think it's obvious even in the pages of Revelation that the time He will return to claim His church is amazingly near. Even as the world grows more hostile to Christ, more unwilling to admit His deity and His love, our hearts compel us to simply wait patiently a little longer, for the hour is close.
After all, He is only waiting for that last soul that will claim Him as Lord. He won't hesitate a moment after that.
So what will you do with your faith in His return? Will you live your life for yourself? Will you accumulate possessions and store up wealth you are soon to leave behind? Can you really worry over the future, over growing old, over death? In the light of such astounding truth can you be content to pursue no more than the daily tasks that are survival?
I challenge you today to think of ways to show your Lord you are ready, and anxious to hear the trumpet sound announcing his imminent arrival. I urge you to make known your faith in some tangible way. I was prompted several years ago to fill a manila envelope with letters, postage, a new testament, and further instructions for those I might leave behind when we are called to a meeting in the air. It's marked "Not to be opened except in the case of our disappearance" and it's waiting in a drawer of my dining room hutch for someone to find after we leave. I pray it will be of eternal use to someone.
What will you do? The time is coming soon. If you stop to listen, you'll hear the promise, whispered sweetly and softly in the breeze. I am coming soon.
What will your response be?
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