“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely,
and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God will make this happen,
for he who calls you is faithful.”  – 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 (ESV)

“Don’t let me come back in here and catch you goofing around!” The directions were very clear to the young athletes as the coach left the weight room to gather some things from his office. They had tremendous respect for their coach because he spent a great deal of time with them and always treated them fairly. The last thing that any of these athletes wanted to do was to disappoint their coach. They had been taught well and they all knew how to train properly and to never play around or be careless when handling weights. A couple of senior athletes took control of the class and when coach returned, he was pleased to see that everyone was doing the workout properly and that there had been no incidents.

Have you ever wondered what you will be doing when Jesus returns? We don’t know when that blessed event will take place, but scripture is very clear that it will happen. Jesus could come back next year, next month or in the next minute. As Jesus followers, we should be spending a great deal of time with Him. If we are faithful in doing that, Jesus will train us properly and teach us not to be careless in how we live our lives. We will learn to train our whole person, to include the body, soul, and spirit. We will do everything possible to be the kind of person Jesus wants us to be not just on Sunday, but every day of the week. We will do all we can each and every moment not to disappoint Jesus, because we know how much He loves us and cares about us. How are you spending your time? Are you doing the things that please and honor Jesus? If not, are you willing to make some changes? Making these changes may be difficult, but we must remember that God can make it happen. Why, because He is always faithful.

Lord, prepare my life for Your return. Make me a good steward of the time You have given me today. Help me to be about things that have eternal value. Amen.