I spoke with a church member this week who told me that her father has just been given a terminal diagnosis. Her mother is suffering with Alzheimer’s, so as she grappled with the painful news of her father’s illness, she was also trying to deal with what will happen to her mother when he dies. The responsibility of caring for the remaining parent is a difficult thing to negotiate. If this has happened to you, you know the awful challenge of deciding what to do when the first parent, who has been faithfully caring for the second parent, is no longer here.

While his death is not imminent, she wanted to think through options so that she will be ready. I have been with families when a sudden death occurred and completely knocked them sideways, and I’ve been with others who knew they were in the final months and days of life. Neither one is easy. But the chance that some people get to prepare for death is a blessing when it happens. It always helps to be ready for major life changes.

In this final chapter of 1 Thessalonians, Paul addressed the Second Coming head on. He didn’t dance around the subject but laid out an expectation that the people would be ready. Reminding them that they were “children of the day,” he encouraged them to be sober, alert, and ready to roll:

1 Thessalonians 5 (Common English Bible)

5 We don’t need to write to you about the timing and dates, brothers and sisters. ² You know very well that the day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. ³ When they are saying, “There is peace and security,” at that time sudden destruction will attack them, like labor pains start with a pregnant woman, and they definitely won’t escape. ⁴ But you aren’t in darkness, brothers and sisters, so the day won’t catch you by surprise like a thief. ⁵ All of you are children of light and children of the day. We don’t belong to night or darkness. 

⁶ So then, let’s not sleep like the others, but let’s stay awake and stay sober. ⁷ People who sleep sleep at night, and people who get drunk get drunk at night. ⁸ Since we belong to the day, let’s stay sober, wearing faithfulness and love as a piece of armor that protects our body and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ God didn’t intend for us to suffer his wrath but rather to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰ Jesus died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him. ¹¹ So continue encouraging each other and building each other up, just like you are doing already.

People who belong to the day stay awake and sober, wearing faithfulness and love as a piece of armor. What a beautiful image! When we sit at the bedside of a loved one who is dying, armor is useful. When we are given terminal diagnosis, lose our jobs, send our kids off to college, welcome a new baby, etc., it helps to be ready. Those moments of great change can assault you with the arrows of anticipation, fear, and feeling overwhelmed. Armor would help! Help us, Lord, to be ready.

Paul went on to say that we can also wear our hope of salvation as a helmet. This is reminiscent of Ephesians 6:10, where Paul detailed putting on the full armor of God in order to combat the Evil One. It is a good analogy. As we wait for the Second Coming, we need to be ready to do battle for our souls and protect ourselves with faithfulness, love, and especially hope.

But I love what he said in verses 10 and 11. Jesus died so that we will live together with him, so our job now is to continue encouraging each other and building each other up. Do you do that? Do you speak words of encouragement to your loved ones or are you critical and dismissive? Do you build up your friends and co-workers or tear them down? What do you need to change to truly be ready for the day of accountability?

No one knows the day or the time. Are you ready?

Children of the Day by Michelle Robertson