SURPRISE!

Surprise! That very word can bring such joy! It can also bring terror! But there are some instances where it is very nice to be surprised, and I enjoyed one of those times today. My co-workers and employees “surprised” me today with cake, balloons, and flowers for my birthday! They were quite sneaky, but it was lovely! I was also surprised by all of the well-wishes on Facebook and humbled by those who donated to my beloved Current River Sheltered Workshop in honor of my birthday. I am truly blessed in this life by knowing so many “good people.”

But, there is one day when none of us want to be surprised, and that’s Judgment Day. On that day, the Lord will return “as He left” (Acts 1:11) – in the clouds.  The day is set – “For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the man He has appointed. . .” (Acts 17:31). We don’t know when that day will be for Matthew wrote, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36). But the day will come for all of us – whether it is expected or if we’re surprised. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (II Corinthians 5:10). And on that day, “before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:” (Matthew 25:32). “They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).

May you live your life in such a way that heaven will be your eternal home. God doesn’t want us to be fearful of that day. He wants us to have comfort in knowing that we have nothing to fear. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13). What a great God we serve, Simply blessed, Courtney