Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Key Verses: ¹⁰ He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

What a glorious privilege we have as disciples of Jesus. We have the honour of “living together with Christ” – when we are “awake” and when we are “asleep”. That’s a metaphorical way of saying that our salvation has given us the opportunity to live in intimate fellowship with Jesus Christ now, when we are alive in our bodies (i.e. “awake”), and when we are alive after our physical death (i.e. “asleep”). We don’t have to wait for heaven to live in intimacy with Jesus. We can have that intimacy now.

Using a play on words, the passage also calls us to make sure that we are wide awake while we’re “awake” (i.e. alive) in the world. Because we have been saved from our sins and adopted into the Family of God, we ought to live in such an alive and active fellowship with the Lord Jesus that if He should happen to return today, He will find us ready and eagerly anticipating His coming. Let Him not find us more in love with the things of this world than we are with Him. Instead, let Him find us living as people who love Him deeply, trust Him completely, and eagerly anticipate His return.

Lord Jesus, I long for Your return and for Your Kingdom to come in all its fullness. Further the work of Your Kingdom coming in me and through me today, I pray. Amen!