Apr 22

1 Thessalonians 4: ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. (NIV)

I'm always amazed at how my mood tracks with the weather.  Easter weekend was cloudy, windy, and gloomy and so was I.  I had no reason to be so, except the weather just made me feel that way for some reason.  In fact, I had every reason to feel differently.  Kerianne was home and the church services leading up to Easter were superb.  Yet, I was in a gloomy mood all weekend.  I really didn't realize how gloomy until the drive to work on Monday.  The cloudless sky, moderate temperature, and light wind combined to make a perfect weather day and I arrive at work feeling energized and optimistic. 

Often I see Christians lead gloomy lives.  It seems that rather than focusing on the ultimate victory in Jesus, we get overwhelmed by the clouds of this day, the uncertainty of our future here on earth, or the issues we can't control.  Often our focus is on us and our problems rather than Christ and His victory.  We are discouraged and lead discouraging lives.  We bring others down with us into our cesspool of self pity and depression. 

I challenge you today to focus on Christ, not on today's issues or circumstances.  Don't let today's issues drive your response.  Be kingdom minded.  Focus on the victory Christ has already won.  Be encouraged and be an encourager.  Not because of what you've done in the world, but because of what He has done in you!