Word of the Week: 1 Thessalonians 4:1–12
March 13, 2019
After taking your seat and buckling in, you begin to wait in anticipation. People crowd in around you, filling in each and every last seat down a host of aisles. After about 20–30 minutes of small talk with those next to you, silence falls over the whole crew. You feel a shift in the airflow. Humming noises begin fill in the silence. Your vehicle begins inching backward at first and then follows a course toward a long stretch of road.
There’s a pause. But then, you begin slowly gaining momentum. You eagerly look out the window next to you as you see the road speeding by you. You begin to think of your arrival.
And then it happens—the plane lifts off the ground. Your heart jumps a little within you! Excitement, nervousness, anticipation. You feel it all! And simultaneously, at that!
If you’ve ever flown in an airplane, you know exactly what this feels like. And if you’ve flown with loved ones or others you know, you probably couldn’t contain this feeling in the moment and had to share how you felt about this strange event with them… “We’re flying! Wow! Look at the ground. Those cars look like ants from up here… Astounding!”
When we consider the idea of living holy and humble lives—the two themes we touched upon on Sunday—I wonder if we look at our sanctification in that same light. “I am bound for the Promised Land!”
But we wrestle with sin. We feel discouraged. We lose heart. Yet God is entirely and utterly faithful to his children, whom he saved. What he starts, he finishes.
Do you ever think about our eternal destination—never-ending Glory in the presence of Christ—as something you could never reach? I certainly have.
But if you belong to God and feel this way, I wonder if the doubt we sometimes face is because we have put stock in our obedience, rather than Christ’s obedience on our behalf.
His life of perfect obedience was one of fulfillment of the good law of God. His atoning death was the perfect sacrifice for sin. And his merit is our only stay.
As Christians, we are bound for Glory. We’re buckled into that plane, as it were, and our faith is exercised as we rest in the hope of Christ. And though life itself and growth in sanctification are certainly far more intricate than a simple flight to a destination, I believe our growth in sanctification is directly influenced by resting in the love of Christ and the hope that God our Father will bring us safely to him.
Knowledge of these things, along with all the various truths that attend the gospel, spur us on in our obedience and faith. So let’s rest in the joy of knowing Christ today. Let’s aspire to follow our Lord in faithfulness out of love for him. And let’s not lose sight of that eternal destination, called Home.
