Dearly beloved in Christ, are you a faithful follower of Jesus Christ? Are you living to please Him? Are you being persecuted for trusting Jesus? Don't be moved by the problems of this present life. For our troubles here are temporal and cannot even be compared to the glory which we shall receive from the Master if only we remain steadfast in faith.
WISDOM FOR TODAY
1Thes. 4:13-18
Beloved in Christ, if everyone living on earth was thinking about life after now, it will greatly increase our yearning and desire to please God. But unfortunately, many people think that life ends here and as such they live only for themselves, struggling to get the best of this world's pleasures since they know that they will die. What such people fail to know is the fact that there is life after now, and where you will be in that new life will be determined by how you have lived this present life. Heaven and hell are real and if you miss heaven, you will definitely not miss hell.
The apostle Paul wrote to encourage the Christians of Thessalonica, to keep holding onto the Gospel message because Jesus is coming again and will reward them according to what they have done. In the preceding verses, he encouraged them to live their lives to please the Lord. Life does not end in physical death here on earth but when Jesus comes again, all the dead who died believing in Jesus will be raised up to meet with Him in the air together with the faithful who will still be alive when the Lord comes again. Since we hope in the resurrection, we do not grieve our loved ones who die in the Lord, as those who have no hope, for since the grave could not hold Jesus captive, it cannot hold His own faithful servants captive. So, together with our loved ones who have gone before us, we shall live with the Lord forever.
Dearly beloved in Christ, are you a faithful follower of Jesus Christ? Are you living to please Him? Are you being persecuted for trusting Jesus? Don't be moved by the problems of this present life. For our troubles here are temporal and cannot even be compared to the glory which we shall receive from the Master if only we remain steadfast in faith. Do not compromise salvation for the fear of physical death, for as Jesus says, if you lose your life for His sake, you will gain it.
Strive to be a part of the communion of saints in the eternal kingdom of God, by living to please God every day of your life. When Jesus comes again, He will judge us all according to what we have done, so be ready for the coming of the Lord, for no one knows when this will happen.
PRAYER
Almighty Father, you are God from beginning till the end, that's why we call you the Alpha and the Omega. Whatever you start, you finish. We thank you for sending to us your own Son, Jesus Christ and taking Him to the cross for our redemption. Thank you for raising Him from the dead and giving us an assurance that we too who die believing in you, will also be raised back to life. We pray that you rebuke us whenever we go astray and that you alone will direct us on how to live. May we live with the consciousness of the reality of heaven and hell, so that we can be heaven focused so as to be caught up with our saviour Jesus in the clouds when He comes to take home the redeemed. I want to be in the number Lord, so help me. Amen
Rev Mrs Ntsam Emelda Bih
COMMENTS