Asleep in Christ.

I enjoy a good sleep. You put in a difficult day of intensive physical or mental labor and then come home, kiss the kids goodnight, and snuggle into your warm bed. It’s a great blessing to sleep well.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul is addressing a fear that some believers had about the Christians they knew who had already died. They were afraid that if a believer died before Jesus came back to earth, they would lose out on eternal life. 

So Paul talks with them about death, but he deals with it in terms that are an intimation of shut-eye;  he says death is really a type of sleep. We are not afraid to put our head on the pillow at night. That time of rest is necessary. In the same way, as we contemplate moving closer and closer to our own death, we do not need to be afraid but can peer at it with a sense of relief; our hard life’s work will be over and we can rest in Jesus.

Here is Paul’s encouragement: “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

I love visiting with the homebound (some use the label “shut-ins”) brothers and sisters in Christ. They are able to look back on their life and celebrate all the great things that God has done in their life. And I get to experience their longing for sleep in Jesus. They are ready, willing and able to be with Jesus because death is viewed more in terms that are evocative of a good nap. They are not afraid.

How can we all be READY just as they are? The answer is profound, yet unembellished: Our life is wrapped up in Jesus! “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3-4). He IS life. When He returns to earth in glory, His life will be the force that re-energizes our failed limbs and reconnects the synapses in our brains. He will bring us back to life for eternity. 

All of this paves a future for us that is unmarred and unalterable. It is predetermined and set in stone because God has declared it so.  His solid plan and declaration makes it so. This is not Paul’s grand idea; this is God’s. This comes from God’s own lips: “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:15). 

Since God’s Words cannot be altered or erased, we have a grand awakening that will happen to us, bound up in Christ. Let us encourage each other with these words and ideas from 1 Thessalonians 4! Blessings to you all, IN CHRIST!