Many of us are familiar with how Paul in his writings would often exhort his readers to good works and deeds, and to strive to fight the good fight, etc. And we see how he would encourage us to do so and to not give up on the effort.
But ’til when, I wonder? Until when would one have to do that? What was the time frame that he set?
You would probably think that the answer is “until your dying breath”. Of course. Right? In other words, remain steadfast in faith and in living a blameless life, all your life from now on until death. There’s no rest, etc. etc. etc. Right?
I thought so, too. But when I came across Phil 1: 10 (“live pure and blameless lives”) in my prayer time this morning, it struck me that that wasn’t Paul’s timeframe at all. Actually, I’ve read this verse often before, but only now did I concentrate on his timeframe. He didn’t say for his reader to do good til your dying breath. No. His time frame in that verse is not “until our death”, but “until Christ returns”. It made me curious enough to study Paul’s other writings to see if there was any similarity. I read 1 Corinthians 1:7-8 (“God will keep you strong and blameless”) , Phil 2:16 (“hold on to the word of life”), Phil 2:12 (“work out your salvation”), and 1 Tim 6:13-14 (“I command you to obey (Christ’s) commands with all purity.”)
Every single one of these verses said the same thing. Paul never set one’s dying as a time frame for doing good. His time frame was Christ’s return.
Paul believed that Jesus would come again in glory. He didn’t know when that would be, of course. 1 Thes 5:2 (“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night.”) Yet, as far as he was concerned, that’s what he was aiming for, and that’s what he was anticipating. Not that he didn’t think he was going to die. Neither did he think that after his death he would still need to strive to do good. He simply didn’t think there was any other relevant timeframe for himself and for all of humanity. Until Christ returns, all humanity has to strive to do good and fight the good fight.
What a good attitude to have, I thought to myself: to set Christ’s return as my timeframe for everything that I aim to do in living out my life of discipleship. It’s an attitude that says, “I’m waiting for the Lord to return. I know He’s coming. I don’t know when. But I live for the return of the Lord, and I better be ready.”
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