Saturday 14 Jul 2018

July 14: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 4:13
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

Devotion:
When was the last time you worried about what was going to happen to you when you died? As Christians we do not have to question this anymore because God has given us the answer, nicely explained in this text. If we die before Christ returns, He will take us to heaven. If we are still alive when it’s time for Him to return, we get to go there sooner! God has got things planned out already and He has told us so too; we just have to be ready for the event when it happens.

Being ready for your homecoming is making sure your house is in order. I’m not saying we all have to have a clean and tidy house (I could never say that to you all if you were to see the state of my house). What I am talking about is making sure you are right with God – our bodies are His house and making sure we keep our lives in a manner which He would approve is important. If we think we have holes in our lives where God should be, or gaps made by us driving Him out – those are the places we need to make right. Yes, our futures are secure once we have confessed our belief to Him, but allowing Him to continue living in a reasonable state is also important!

The first thing Christ will take care of when He does descend is to raise up all the dead Christians... well, to raise up their physical bodies because their spiritual bodies will already be with Him. Once that is accomplished, He will then take us up in like manner – we will be transformed into our new bodies, leaving behind all the sickness and worries and death. What a wonderful day that will be! So, we definitely have something rather special to look forward to.

But that does not take us out of this earth yet because we still have to put up with all manner of sickness, pain and even suffering before we go. We are human. Our bodies are still human. We still live in amongst all the sickness and death; obviously we are still open to those same sicknesses and to our physical death – but what an outlook!

Points to Ponder:
Are you fortunate enough to live a healthy life?

Do those that are less fortunate know about God’s gift?