I Thessalonians 5:1-3

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they say, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!

The day of the Lord may well come like a thief in the night. We do not know. Jesus talked about being able to read the signs of the times, but even he admitted that he did not know when this event would take place. Nevertheless, even if we do not know what night the thief will come or even if he will come in our lifetime, that does not mean that we should not be prepared.

To live unprepared is to invite disaster. We are encouraged to wear seatbelts in case we are involved in an accident. They may very well save our lives. The fact that we may never have been in a wreck does not preclude the fact that we just might some day. And if that day comes, we had better be prepared by wearing seat belts. The best way to be prepared is to wear seat belts all the time. Granted, it is not inevitable that we will be in an accident just as it is not inevitable that we will be alive when the Lord comes again; but if we are, we had better be prepared.

On the other hand, to live our lives looking over our shoulders or living on edge waiting for the almost-inevitable to happen is no way to live. It is not living. It is existing and it is existing in fear. Paul was not encouraging the people of Thessalonica to live that way. He was only reminding them that if they lived out their lives as faithfully as they could, then they would be prepared if /or when the Lord came. What they needed to do was take a few moments to examine the way they were living their lives to determine whether or not they were truly ready should the Lord return that very night.

Of course we can ask ourselves that same question. Are we ready to meet our Lord should that call come in the middle of this night? Or do we still have some work to do to get ourselves, our heart and mind and soul, ready? None of us will ever be as prepared as we would like even if we have a good sense that the time for our meeting the Lord is now at hand.

The best way to avoid an accident is to drive carefully. The best way to avoid injury should an accident occur is to wear a safety belt. The best way to be prepared for the coming of the Lord is to live each day as faithfully as we can. Accidents will happen and we will get hurt. And Jesus will come when we are not as fully prepared as we would desire. Those are all givens, I suspect. All God expects of us and all we can, even demand, of ourselves is to be as prepared as best we can and then leave the rest in God’s loving, caring and forgiving hands.

I pray: Lord, help me to live this day as faithfully as I can; and when I fail, help me to get back on track as quickly as possible. Amen.