You Belong to The Day

I just finished reading the 1st letter Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 50 AD and some verses stuck out to me in chapter 5:

2 :: ...the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

7-9 :: For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

13-14 :: ...Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

16 :: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances...

19-21 :: Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.

To speak to 1 Thessalonians 5:7-9, I encountered a point yesterday evening, in which I became extremely frustrated and troubled about a drunken person, someone in my family. First, I was angry and felt wronged by this person's inappropriate and hurtful words. I absolutely detest seeing full grown men drunk and that's just a truth about my personality, I suppose.

However secondly, and more importantly, I realized that instead of thinking about how this person may have wronged me - it was very much so more important to think about this person's own well-being...

It may be good to ask: why does he do this? To what a great extent is this person's soul burning with embarrassment and pride within? How much does he yearn to know the Lord and to love His Statutes, but cannot bring himself to understand something so wonderful?

I pray for an opened heart for him, that he may believe in the hope we have, because of Christ's work on the cross - in the existence of infinite goodness, just knocking on his door...

This realization and reminder that I am to love and not to judge him came mercifully from Galatians 6:1 when Paul wrote:

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.

Praise be to our Holy Father, who by the Words He left for us to know Him centuries after the fact of occurrence, may help sanctify me and give love to a man who has yet to know Him.

Amen.