1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

What’s in your toolbox? Every carpenter has a toolbox. If asked, they would give you a list of tools they believe every carpenter should have in their toolbox. A good hammer might be first on the list.

I do believe every Christian should have a toolbox full of questions. One of the questions that we should use quite often, perhaps much more than we do, is the question, “What difference does it make?” Whether we are talking about theology, behavior, or beliefs, before we become invested and emotional about an issue we should know if it really makes a difference.

Christians become very emotional, and sometimes, even argumentative about the end times. Some believe that certain events must still happen according to prophecy before Christ can return. Others believe, based on Scripture’s, including Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, that everything that needed to happen before Christ could return happened within the first 50 years after his ascension. We do know that when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians they believed Christ could return at any time. They were already seeking to know the time and the date of his returning. Paul reminded them that any man who claimed to know the time and the date was either self-deceived or deceptive. It is impossible to know the unknowable, and none of us can know the mind of God. According to Paul when Christ does reappear many will be caught by surprise, both unaware and unprepared. That is not the case with Christians; Christians live each day as if it is the day they will meet the Lord. Paul said that whether alive or dead, at Christ’s re-appearing, all Christians will live together with him. Therefore Christians live lives of faith, love and hope; they live knowing they are saved.

When will Christ returns?” God does not want us to know, because even though that knowledge should make no difference, it would. We should live each day to please the Lord, balancing the possibilities between today and tomorrow.