Friday's Follow-up Verses
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
The Day of the Lord
1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Pondering Point
These verses (5:5-6) of course are not an admonition to be physically awake, but to be spiritually awake. It is also not an individual commission but a corporate one, spoken to God’s people collectively. With a call to be "awake and sober" we could add the charge to “pray” (v. 17) and “encourage one another” (v. 11) as we see later in this chapter.
Prayer
Father God, I pray that Your people (myself included) stay spiritually awake and alert, not ensnared by the tempter’s call from the darkness. As Your children, we pray to be led – not into temptation. Amen.
Micro-Group Moment
Considering the word “Our” in the opening words of the Lord’s prayer – and the people we tend to group up with.
It was 7th or 8th grade when the opening word “Our” was explained in my Catechism class as part of the teaching on The Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father” it read – with two short Bible verses for reference:
• Ephesians 4:6 [There is] one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
• Galatians 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.
That was a helpful starter. But a more profound way to pray this word came by way of a friend who has pored over this prayer for a few years now. Here is my description of his view of the ‘Our’ in Our Father: Since Father God already knows what you need before you ask (Matthew 6:87) and since always He looks on your heart (Proverbs 4:23), He already knows who’s included in the word “our” when you pray.
For years I had labored to keep loved ones in my prayers consciously – at times laden with guilt for not remembering some of them more often. But this has given me hope that the prayer of my heart is heard by God daily as He looks upon my heart to bless the ‘Our’ group I have at the heart of my prayer’s beginning (and scattered through the prayer thereafter).
Take a few minutes to identify your list of “Our” in your heart. It likely includes immediate and extended family, friends, neighbors, church and work relationships and the like. I appreciate that I can bless all my loved ones daily through the prayer Jesus taught His disciples to pray – at a heart-level that gets beyond my mind’s human limitations.
Prayer
Lord God Almighty, thank You for being Our Father.
In Jesus’ name I pray for us.
Amen.