The Day of the Lord's Salvation

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, 

and put on the breastplate of faith and love, 

and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

(From 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)

Krisopher Coffman, welcoming the birth of his first son, now realizes how fitting the imagery of labor is.

Though he knew that his wife would eventually go into labor, the last days of her pregnancy were full of waiting and watching. 

At any moment, they knew their lives would change forever, but could not predict it or escape it. 

In Jesus' day, time had two properties: One it was eternal, like death; Two it was cyclical, like New Year's Eve.

In 1 Thessalonians Paul is teaching the concept of time heading toward one destiny: The Day of the Lord.

The Day of the Lord has a catch however: it's hour is unknown coming with a "Great Tribulation".

To make it through the "Great Tribulation" means to be, "sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." 

Paul's letters are not just for discussion, they are sent to address real communities in difficult moments of faith assuring them they are not destined for destruction.

The image on the latest issue of “Time” magazine is a 12-year-old boy sitting on some rubble overlooking the surrounding Gaza devastation.

It's a Great Tribulation for a parent with a child caught in addiction or alcoholism on a hard road awaiting healing and recovery.

When a crisis makes us ask "Where is God?" it's time to put on the breastplate of faith with its assurance we are not destined for destruction.

The Day of the Lord is the hope of salvation on the other side of the "Great Tribulations" we face globally, socially, or personally.

Did you know: 1st Thessalonians is the oldest book in the New Testament written before any of Paul's other letters and before the Gospels?

Think about it: What do you think the day of the Lord will be like?