God wants full custody
"But dear brothers, you are not in the dark about these things, and you won’t be surprised as by a thief when that day of the Lord comes." (NLT) 1 Thessalonians 5:4
By grace, God called us out of darkness into the Kingdom of His glorious son Jesus Christ (Col. 1:13). Our coming into light also came with revealed truths about life on earth and eternity (Eph. 5:13). One of the profound truths is that Christ will come again. In both the Old and New Testaments, the judgment day is also referred to as the day of the Lord.
In our text for devotion today, the writer reminds Christians about what they know already – that Christ will come again. This day is likened to the coming of a thief which is unannounced though we know they exist and operate. Christ’s warning is that He will not tarry but will come the second time. The mystery about his coming is that no one except God the father knows the day and time of his coming (Matt. 24:36). For that matter, Christians are being warned to be always ready and not see that day as a surprise.
This calls for an incessant godly living as we wait for his appearing. Christians are pilgrims on earth and must we must not see ourselves as earthly citizens. We cannot conform to the patterns of this world but rather live a holy life through the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2).
We must take into consideration each time that the day of the lord is at hand. No one knows tomorrow but we all know who holds tomorrow. That person is God. He is a God that wants full custody of his children. Agreeing with this title I am inspired to bring to mind the coming of the Lord. This is a day that is new to us all and our constant relationship with God is the only way to keep us away from the dark on matters like this. We ought to be on the watch all the time so that we will never be surprised when he appears in his glory.
Sunday worshiping alone is a form of weekend visits and God isn’t interested in that. He desires that we give our all to his service in whatever way possible. We must serve him with our time, money, resource, life, knowledge, wisdom and all our possessions. We must surrender to him and give him full custody of our being. In that sense, whatever concerns us becomes his priority. I would prefer to be God’s priority than to be secondary on his blessing list.
Beloved brethren, GOD WANTS FULL CUSTODY NOT JUST WEEKEND VISITS from us.