Peace and Safety

DEVOTION
1 THESSALONIANS
PEACE AND SAFETY
1 Thess 5:1-3
5:1 Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
NIV
I do not know how anyone can ever say “Peace and safety”. It seems to me the world is always in some kind of turmoil. Yet I suppose in a personal sense there could be a false sense of security especially in the more civilized countries of this world. Those areas where life is fairly safe and peaceful would have a tendency to help create that type of feeling within its citizens. Yet I cannot help thinking this speaks more to the inward condition of the heart. I know as far as I was concerned I never felt at peace or safe within my being prior to accepting Jesus. I was in turmoil within. The fear of death and no life after that was absolutely frightening. I surely did not even believe in heaven or hell. Nothing awaited me. I would never ever even know I had ever lived. Nothing was nothing and that caused a Maybe they think the accumulation of wealth gives them peace and safety. Maybe they just believing there is a God and he lets everyone in heaven give them that peace. I don’t understand how they could be so foolish. Maybe they have never actually read the word of God. What I know is I have the real peace and a real safety. I also know it could be anytime when my Lord shall return. I have to always be ready and watchful for his return as a child waits for his father. No one knows when that day will be. I hear people ever so often declare the end of the world. They cannot know how foolish they sound. These words speak directly to the heart issue of each person, to me. Be ready. Be watchful. Be on guard. Of course I cannot be a perfect person without sin, but I can have my heart ready for his return. I cannot live completely free of mistakes and errors in my words, thoughts and deeds but I know when that happens and seek his forgiveness. I am not just living without him, going about my merry way. There is going to come a day when he is coming back for me and I must live in expectation of that day. Whether it is while I am still alive or after I have finished this portion of my life, it does not matter. I simply could not imagine any other way to live since that day the truth had been revealed to me. I truly do live in a real peace and safety as I wait for my Lord.