For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Yesterday morning, a 50-year-old woman named Christa Pike was to receive a lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee. Pike was convicted for murdering a classmate in 1995, when she was 18. After all the trials and appeals and applications for clemency were exhausted, the state set an appointment for her execution. One hour before the appointment, a court ordered a halt, all outside of Pike’s control. God has an appointment for us today, and it is up to us whether we keep it.
Before we were saved, we were appointed to wrath, like all other lost souls. But our salvation brought us into a relationship that freed us from our old appointment. And it opened us up for a new appointment because of our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. The salvation that our appointment enables us to obtain is not the salvation of our souls from wrath; that appointment was forever cancelled at our conversion. And it is not the salvation of our bodies in the Glory; that has also been guaranteed to us. No, this salvation is of our spirits, the daily salvation that marks us as children of light in this dark world, and children of God enabled to worship and serve our Lord.
Our text is part of a chapter in which Paul urges his readers to be different from the sleepers and drunkards of the world. In the previous verse, he urges us to put on the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of hope. This armour will enable us, if we use it, to enjoy the salvation that God has appointed for us. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/bXSJNagbkM4