April 30, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10)

What Paul is proclaiming here is good news indeed. God did not appoint us to suffer His anger but to obtain salvation. As John said, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it through Him (John 3:17). Paul elsewhere articulately writes that if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. This is why Christ died and rose again: so that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living (Romans 14:8-9).

So what then? Do we just live in sin and the way we want because Jesus saves us anyway? Of course not. Let us remember that the reason He died for us is so that we may live together with Him a life that is free from the bondage and corruption of sin and death. A divine life that brings true and everlasting joy. The more we understand that, the fuller our lives will be.