How often have we all heard that question asked?
Usually we answer according to whatever our plans are without the slightest thought that something might not go as we expect.
It's kind of a silly thing to do, really.
It assumes that we have full control over our lives and our futures, yet we all know that that is not the case and that anything can happen.
The book of first Thessalonians was written by the apostle Paul when he was in Corinth, around the year 50.
It was a new church, having been founded by Paul during his visit there only a few months earlier.
Most scholars agree that Paul had stayed in Thessalonica for about three months.
He now wanted to know how the infant church was faring so he sent his understudy Timothy to visit it.
This book was penned to them after Timothy had returned with his report.
It seems that a couple of issues had arisen within this church community.
The first, an all-too-familiar problem, was that the church was experiencing persecution, coming from those of the church's own countrymen who themselves rejected the good news of Christ.
Paul reminds them of the relationship that he had with them, comparing the kindness that they had shown him with the hostile treatment that he himself had received in some other places.
He says, “We were happy to share not only the good news from God, but our very selves because we came to dearly love you."
This reminds us that Christian leadership is not about power, influence or gain.
It is about healthy relationships and humble, loving service.
The second issue that had arisen within this church appears to have been an anxiety concerning Jesus’s return.
Just like so many of us, the Thessalonian Christians we're looking forward in faith to Jesus returning to them but not knowing when that would happen.
It seems that since Paul had visited them, some of them had passed away, likely because of persecution.
Concerns had arisen as to the eternal fate of their departed after the return of Jesus.
Paul answers by reassuring them that not even death can separate them from the love of Christ, and when Jesus returned, their loved ones would be with Him.
He says, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”
He then continues to reassure then by using imagery that would have been very familiar to anyone in the Roman Empire, the reception of important people to the sound of trumpets, applying this imagery to the arrival of Jesus.
He too will be greeted by a delegation of his own people, who will “meet the Lord in the air” as they welcome Him back to His world.
the return of Jesus Christ to this world.
There are very many Christians today who, for very good reason, believe that Jesus’s return may happen much sooner than what we might think.
Study of the Bible in many places teaches of the signs that we need to be aware of and to be looking for as we move closer to the great day of the Lord's return.