Day 185, Year 1

Sooner or Later, the Lord will Surely Appear Before You

“But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4 NKJV)

After pondering the truth of Jesus knocking on the door of people’s hearts over the previous days, there is one substantial point that needs to be emphasized: Even if people do not open their doors for Him or deal with their darkness within, Jesus shall ultimately appear in front of them. This means that He will not be knocking on people’s heart doors forever. Once the appointed time set by Jesus passes, He will no longer knock on their doors. At the end, the Lord shall return, as today’s verse says, He will overtake those in darkness as a thief. Just as a thief does not need victims’ approval but sneaks into their houses to steal at an unexpected time, on that day, Jesus will no longer require people’s “approval” or need them to “open the door,” because He will surely come to punish all who disobey Him. Ultimately, Jesus will reveal Himself to all, but He wishes to respect our free will until the very last moment. Jesus desires us to willingly open our doors of hearts for Him and welcome Him in as the Lord. In sum, Jesus either knocks on the door early on or returns as a thief on the last day. Therefore, it is best for us to open our doors to Him as soon as possible.

Today’s verse makes it clear that people in darkness will feel like a thief has come when Jesus arrives. In reality, it is not Jesus who is like a thief, but those living in darkness who act like thieves. Because they who reject God are substantially stealing His grace to live according to their desires rather than the Lord’s. As mentioned previously, these people are worse than living beasts, but only like beasts that perish. Even cats and dogs, or any other animals, will accept food and care from their owners and live according to the owners’ will. But unbelievers, despite receiving God’s grace, arrogantly refuse to live according to His will.

As mentioned before, even those who welcome Jesus come in might still struggle to let Him be the Lord due to the darkness within them. So, rather than dwelling in the darkness of sins, we should seek to be in the light of Jesus and pray for His light to drive out all the darkness within us. The key is to welcome Jesus into every dark corner within us, constantly pray to Him, and cooperate with His work, so that He may dispel every darkness and replace it with His light. We must repent of all our traits of thieves, if any, and allow Jesus’ grace to fulfill His will in our lives.

Reflection questions:

1) How do you feel about the truth that the Lord Jesus will surely come sooner or later before you?

2) Do you think that your life leans more towards being like a thief or like a servant of the Lord Jesus? Why?