Good morning and happy Saturday. Memorial weekend is often called the unofficial kick-off to the summer season. I hope that you enjoy the blazing hot 60 degree temps today. ☹
Pastor Fitsum will be preaching tomorrow, and we will be having another baptism. I hope that you can join us.
As I was driving down the highway in the wee hours of the morning, one of those bright, digital billboards caught my eye. In bright yellow letters were the words, “Nobody expects to die today.” You have to admit, that does draw your attention. After checking the roadway around me so that I didn’t cause an accident, I looked back at the sign to discover that it was to encourage you to wear a seatbelt. Fairly clever I thought. Unless of course you crash your car while staring at the sign too long. Anyway, I already had my seatbelt on, so I was ok with that. Check the box and move on. However, I did think about those words throughout my drivetime. I think that it is true that most of us aren’t expecting to die on any given day. We just pop out of bed before the alarm goes off or we hit the snooze a few times and slink out of bed like a sloth. Either way, we likely don’t think about our mortality every day. However, at some point, we will finally break the mantra of Hotel California. We will check out and we will leave this place.
I think, from a practical standpoint, it is good to have some basic plans in place so as to not overly burden your loved ones. Things such as a list of accounts and important numbers. Do you have any life insurance? Do you have a burial plan? What do you want for a service? Burial or cremation? It is good to think through these things and put them on a list. Beyond that, do you have a will or a trust? I know this is probably not what you were thinking of reading about on a Saturday morning, but you should set a date to consider these things at some point.
What about relationships? Are there any people that you need to reconcile with? Is there a family member or “friend” that you haven’t spoken to in a while? It seems to me that every year goes by faster and I’ve noticed that no one around me seems to be getting any younger. As you are aware, we are not promised years at a time. Even though the Lord knows every day of our life before the first one began, it doesn’t mean that we do. Therefore, it is important that we do what we can while we are able. Besides, forgiveness and reconciliation are the very things that Jesus modeled for us.
What about our walk with the Lord? If you knew this was you last day, month or year on this earth, would you do anything differently? Are there things you wouldn’t do? It is easy to get in the habit of taking relationships for granted. This is true with our family and friends, and it is also true with our Lord. I am not suggesting that we develop some fatalistic outlook on life. However, I think we sometimes need to be reminded that there are no guarantees. You have heard the expression that you might get hit by a bus. Well, I have had a close call with two buses. Either one could have caused my closing credits to role. Whenever I am near a bus, I tend to keep a wary eye on it. The point is, we often don’t know when the end will come. That is why it is important to continue seeking to grow in our faith and walk with the Lord day by day. The Bible also teaches us that the Lord will return one day like a thief in the night. When He does return, He likely isn’t going to send a billboard that announces the date and gives you an opportunity to catch up on the things you have been neglecting. Although, come to think about it, He did give us some advance notice. We read about that in our Bibles. Granted, it doesn’t give a date, but that is kind of the point. We are to be watching and waiting, living for Him until our time comes.
15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:15-17)
1About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. 6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 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 self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who 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 as you are already doing. (I Thessalonians 5:1-11)
27 Just one thing: Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. (Philippians 1:27)
From our neighborhoods to the nations,
Pastor Larry
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