1 Thessalonians
4:16-17
16 For the Lord himself will
come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the
archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and
the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are
still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with
the Lord forever.
Hi Friends!
One of the things I prepare for
each day is my daily-to-do-list and I often revise it two to three times to
better prioritize the possibilities of each day. I look to check items off the
list and often have some sense of accomplishment as I do believing that most of
those things make some kind of positive difference for others as well as myself.
As I look to turn the page on a new month I also do a monthly review of goals
and time-lines and opportunities and the like.
In reflecting upon the above verses
earlier this morning I reviewed my to-do-list an extra-time today and revised it
yet again. I took another pass at the month of June as well. Admittedly I
realized anew that in light of the Lord’s pending return that some things on my
daily-to-do-list and monthly-to-do-list are much more important than others. I
even added a couple items to the “top 10” things to do on my
list.
That exercise made me wonder how different the world
might be if I were more faithful to use the filter of the Lord’s pending return
to better prioritize each of my thoughts and my actions of each and every one of
my days? And what might the church look like in the world if every member of the
church took a moment to review and possibly rewrite their daily-to-do-list and
monthly-to-do-list using the Lord’s pending return as their priority
filter?
Think of it like this: when asked, Jesus said about His
return “Watch and be ready.”
My thought is that using the filter of the
Lord’s pending return more faithfully in putting together our daily-to-do-lists
is something that would serve to grow the church in the world? At a
minimum I found that it caused me to grow in the Lord today and as such I
hope if you participate in the same exercise it might do much the same
for each of you and more than we can ask, think, or imagine in
the world as His church.
Final thought - something that is on my list and will stay on my list as a result of reflecting upon this is to remember to honor daily those who sacrificially have and do provide the freedom for us to even have and prioritize to-do-lists - one being our Savior and Lord Jesus who died on the cross for our sins to give us the freedom to live eternally in Him and others being the men and women in our armed services who guard and protect that freedom as their daily priority.
God’s Peace,
Jeff
