Project 119: Heaven and Nature Sing | 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
| Project 119 | Dr. Wayne Splawn
Reading for Thursday, December 10: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11
Lo, He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain;
Thousand, thousand saints attending
Swell the triumph of His train.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
God appears on earth to reign.
-"Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending"
As I write these words on a summer day, we are still very much in the throws of the COVID-19 pandemic. We all hope that life will soon return to “normal,” but we have no idea as to when we might experience something resembling the life we knew prior to the emergence of this particular novel coronavirus. Perhaps a vaccination or effective therapy will soon be developed that will allow us to once again enjoy a meal in a crowded restaurant with friends, attend a championship sporting event, participate in a memorial service to grieve a friend or loved one who has died, or file into a crowded sanctuary to witness and bless the marriage of two people we love. I hope that as you read this devotion, those things have already resumed. But, for now, none of us can be sure of when we will be able to participate in activities that once enriched our lives with joy and meaning. For me, it is the uncertainty of when things will improve that makes life in a pandemic so hard. If I knew we were in the last mile of the 5K or in the fourth quarter of the game, so to speak, I believe it would be easier to muster the strength necessary to persevere to the end.
As Christians, we must become accustomed to pursuing faithfulness in the face of uncertainty. We know that Christ will one day return to earth and reign so that things will be on earth as they are in heaven. However, we do not know if that day will come during our lifetime or at some point far in the future. Sometimes this uncertainty produces doubt and worry that threaten to impede our faithful pursuit of Jesus and His kingdom in this world.
Paul’s words to the Thessalonians serve as a source of hope for us today just as they were for his original audience. Regardless of how much hardship we endure in this life, and despite us not knowing when Christ will return, during this season of Advent we would do well to look back on Jesus’ first appearance in this world as a sure and certain sign that He will one day return to make all things new. On that day, all of us who live or who have died in Christ will be clothed with immortality and will always dwell in the presence of the Lord. This truth ought to fill us with the strength and courage necessary for faithful living in uncertain days.