Surprise!

I went to a surprise birthday party this weekend for a friend of mine. You've experienced this before right - either as one of the surprisers or as the surprisee (perhaps both sides). Some people really love surprises like that and some people really don't like surprises. How about you? A lot of work goes in to a surprise party. People have to be invited, a location chosen, food, decorations, etc. The two critical components are keeping all of the guests from ruining the surprise ahead of time and getting the guest of honor to the party without them figuring out what is going on. From what I could tell, the party on Saturday was genuinely a surprise to the birthday girl.

This morning I was coincidentally reading in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 about another surprise that is coming . Paul is talking to the Thessalonian church about Jesus returning and says it will be "like a thief in the night". That imagery doesn't quite give us the nice feeling of a surprise party though does it? None of us look forward to a thief coming in the night, there is no sense of anticipation or excitement with that. However, Paul goes on to tell the church "But you brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief." None of us know when Jesus is returning, we just know from His word that He is. If you are a follower of Jesus however, this event should be seen like a surprise party - people need to be invited (they must choose whether to accept), preparations should be made (we should follow Christ with all that we have) and we should anticipate the guest of honor arriving. Unlike our version of a surprise party where we have a reasonable idea of when the guest of honor is arriving, Jesus' arrival time is unknown to us. Rather than being an excuse to do our own thing until we figure it out, I encourage you to live a life of readiness, live for Him today and every day.