1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

As you read the preceding verses 15 to 17 you get the joyful news about the return of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and the catching up of those saints alive at the time.
Then it says we should comfort one another with these words.
Originally Paul was comforting the Christians at Thessalonica that worried they would never see their long-gone Christian family and friends again.
I take comfort that we will.
I take comfort in Jesus’ return for His very own.
As this world spins out of control with disease, war, financial uncertainty, and political and civil unrest it is high time we comfort others with the message of Christ.
That message is He came and gave His life so that we might be forgiven our sins and saved.
That message is He was dead and buried but He came back and is victorious over death.
That message is He is seated on high and making intercession for us against the adversary.
That message is He has not left us alone in the world but the Holy Spirit fills and guides us every day.
And finally, that message is HE IS COMING BACK!

Matt 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

I’m not a farmer, although I have had my fair share of being in a field picking purple hull peas or butter beans with my grandparents.
Closer to the house was a smaller garden spot for pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.
One thing I learned is there is always more to pick.
You can spend an hour on a row of peas and think you got every last one. But turn around and head back down the row and you will pick another half bucket full.
I also learned that if you don’t pick that most things will spoil and become unusable.
Tomatoes and peppers will begin to rot, while the peas and beans become hard and dry.
Jesus said the harvest was ready but there aren’t enough laborers.
You can present the gospel to 15 people, turn around, and there are 20 more you can present the message to.
The longer you wait the more hardened people become to the gospel.
The adversary wastes no time in presenting a message against God.
We should counter by wasting no time heading into the harvest with the message of God.
It’s high time we get into the garden.

Rom 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

On those days I work from home I wear sweat pants and a T-shirt.
I usually wear it all day with no reason to get dressed.
It’s comfortable and relaxed and, after all, no one is going to see me in them.
However, if I must go into town or even out to the barn, I put on my overalls, socks, and shoes.
I want to be more presentable in public and wear something more durable when I do some outdoor work.
There is a time when you can lie around in your jammies all day and there is a time when you need to get dressed in something more appropriate.
It’s high time for Christians to wake out of their slumber, put off their spiritual jammies, and put on Christ.
The world needs to see us wearing Christ and making provision for a worldly lifestyle.
The world does not need to see actors nor hypocrites, but genuine God-fearing believers in love with Jesus and those He came to die for.
As you get up and get dressed today, put on Christ!

Rom 13:11 And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.

I accepted Christ as my savior in 1975.
When I got into the church later that year, I learned Jesus is coming back.
Summer revivals and Bible studies all said the same thing – Jesus is coming back.
Over the past 47 years, I have preached and heard many more messages about the return of Christ.
It hasn’t happened yet!
But that day is closer today than it was 47 years ago.
So it is high time, more precisely, the hour to wake out of sleep and get busy.
When this hour is over it becomes a new hour to get busy.
And another.
And another.
The church needs to get busy and stay busy until our Salvation arrives – Jesus Christ.

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

In my, DNA is the history of my family for hundreds and thousands of years.
Characteristics and traits have been watered down as it mixed with other characteristics and traits.
One thing that wasn’t watered down is my ability to sin and pass it on to my children and grandchildren.
What God formed – me, sin deformed.
However, Jesus has restored me.
I found it interesting, in doing this research, that blood has no nucleus, like your other cells, and, therefore, has no DNA.
You can donate an organ to someone and their body may reject it because the genetic material is different.
But if you donate your blood to someone of the same acceptable blood type, their body will accept it because there is no genetic difference.
With that said, Jesus saved us by His blood.
1 John 1:7 …and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Although He also gave His body, without shedding of blood there is no remission [of sin]. Heb 9:22
What sin has done to me, the blood of Jesus has undone!

Ps 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

All those ancestors that passed down all my physical traits also passed down to me a serious deformity – sin.
My entire family is composed of nothing but sinners.
The Swedes, the English, the Swiss, and the Irish were all sinners.
Including in my DNA is the ability to steal, lie, covet, or take God’s name in vain.
Those were the easy ones for me.
I’m sure my genes contain my abilities to kill, worship false idols, or be an atheist.
Even though God formed me, sin has deformed me and created all kinds of undesirable characteristics in me.
But something changed my genetic need to sin.
Jesus!

Isa 44:24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb:

I am formed by God.
The Psalmist and the prophet both agree that God forms each and every one of us.
You will ask, “why are some people deformed?”
That’s a question I’ll answer in my next Morning Thought.
My dad and mom each donated their own chromosomes to create a unique cell.
That cell divided and divided and divided.
Different cells formed from the one becoming bones, organs, muscles, hair, nerves, and blood.
Before any of this began, God already knew me.
He knew my eye and hair color.
He knew my weight and height.
He knew all about me.
He knew I needed salvation and Christ died for me before I knew I needed Him.

Ps 139:1-2 O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

I had the privilege growing up of being close to both sets of grandparents.
When my parents worked I would find myself spending the day with either grandmother.
We often took trips to see my great-grandparents, my grandmother’s parents on my mom’s side.
There was (and still is) a couple of family reunions every year and I met great uncles and aunts, cousins, cousins, and cousins.
I remember my grandmother telling me who was who and my relation to them.
It was quite confusing and times because so many are double kin to me.
For instance, my grandmother’s grandmother is the sister of my grandfather’s grandfather.
This is not a unique example; the entire family is made up of relationships like this.
I only understand it when I look at the family tree.
Yet, God has searched me and known me.
He knew all my days and all those before me.
Relatives I cannot find, He already knows about and saw all their days.
While others can look back and say they are related to a signer of the Declaration or kin to European royalty, I can think of nothing better for my descendants to say of me than I was a good Christian man.

Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

My daughter sent me a DNA kit for Christmas and I recently received the results.
The website reported that my family roots lie in Scandinavia, the British Isles, and a portion of western Europe.
This is correct.
My dad’s family are immigrants from Sweden.
My mom’s family is from all the other places.
Just last night I was searching on Ancestry and discovered that one of the Wise’s was knighted.
Wise was my grandmother’s maiden name.
Years ago I also found a duke.
Ancestral roots and discoveries are fun but God already knew who I was and where I came from before I was formed.
He already knew the number of hair on my head, or the lack thereof, before my head ever appeared in this world.
And regardless of having a distant ancestor that was knighted or a duke, I am pleased to report I know a Lord and King as my personal savior.

Rev 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

All week we’ve taken a look at those things God personally wrote.
An overview shows His holy Law, His judgment, and His grace and mercy.
One final writing is found in Revelation, although you can find reference to it throughout the Bible.
It is the Book of Life!
I am not sure if names are written in the book at the time of salvation or if all names are written within those pages and blotted out when a person does not accept Jesus as savior.
There is no need to debate it.
It is the Book of Life and Jesus is the way, the truth, and the Life!
If you do not accept Jesus as your savior, your name is not going to be found in the Book.
How ironic it is that with all that grace and mercy available there will still be those that will refuse to accept it, die, be judged, and be cast into the lake of fire.
Don’t be one of those!
There is still time and room for your name to be written in the Book of Life.