Word of Encouragement (7/7/2021)

The pray we will consider now is, “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:11-12).

What prompted Paul to offer up this prayer? What was “this end,” to which he prayed this prayer for the Thessalonians? He just finished talking about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, “when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed” (1:10). This reminds us that the focus of our Christian life is not this present age but the age to come. This doesn’t mean that we don’t care about this present age or this world. It is hard to ignore it when we are living in it. Rather, it means that the manner of our life in this present age and our interaction with this world is determined by the inevitability of the age to come.

This future-oriented mode of life is not new to us. In so many ways, even in this life, how we live in the present is determined by what we expect to happen in the future. When an important test is coming up in a few days, it affects the way you spend your time for the next few days. When a big project for your work is due in a week, it will affect how long you work, how hard you work, and even how you feel at the moment. If you ignore the upcoming deadline and spend all your time on mindless entertainment and parties, you will be very sorry when the deadline arrives.

We have the most important deadline of all on the day of Christ’s return. It is the day of reckoning when we must give an account of how we lived our lives. The only thing that will matter on that day is God’s standard, not “I did it my way!” How much worldly success you achieved or how many accolades you earned or how much money you made will be of no value. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21). Many of us are so responsible when it comes to our work and school deadlines. But are we responsibly preparing for the Deadline? This is not to say that we don’t have to be responsible in our work and school duties. But there is a world of difference between doing those things well just to advance our career or to earn people’s approval and doing them in service of God and for the glory of God.)

It is to that end that Paul prayed this prayer. We ought to pray in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ because it is so easy for us to be fixated on the present—how we are feeling, or what we have or not have, or what we want and don’t want at the moment with regard to the things of this world. When we pray, we are compelled to direct our attention toward heaven, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, who is and who was and who is to come. We ought to pray, as Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come!” We ought to pray because of what Paul says the goal of Christ’s return is: “...when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints...” (1:10). How can we not be humbled by this and pray for His help? We will see in the coming days specifically for what Paul prays. For today, let’s remember that Christ will return to be glorified in His saints and reflect on how we ought to order our lives in preparation for that day.

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