1 Thessalonians 5:10 (NIV) He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

We who are followers of Christ all know that Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, but the reason He died is a lot more expansive than that. I’m sure that everyone who has “received” Christ as their Lord and Savior are happy that their sins are forgiven, but what has happened since the day that they did that? Many Christians, after their salvation experience, have settled into a dormant Christianity consisting of going to church a few times a month, praying inconsistently and reading the scriptures sometimes or rarely. They love the fact that Jesus died for their sins but they think that’s all there is to it. What Jesus did is so much more than that.

Jesus’ main mission when He broke into our world was reconciliation. He came to reconcile us with God. Who better than God Himself to bring reconciliation to the people that He created. Sin had separated us, which is why the Israelites, which were the only people and nation that served God before Jesus came, had to constantly offer animal sacrifices for their sins over and over and why they could not even enter the temple, let alone The Most Holy Place where the presence of God dwelt. There had to be an intermediary for the people to hear anything from God, to make special offerings and to offer sacrifices. But Jesus changed all of that and by shedding His own blood as payment for all our sins, He made it possible for us to have constant fellowship with Him.

But it’s the fellowship part that a lot of Christians don’t get or perhaps do’'t even think about. The verse of scripture above says that He died so that whether we are alive or dead (awake or asleep), we can live together with Him. That means that those of us that are still alive can and should live our lives with Jesus. We are meant to have a full-blown and intimate relationship with Him, not just visit Him once a week on Sundays. By the way, the visiting Him thing doesn’t work because Jesus didn’t pay the enormous price of dying on the cross just so that we can continue life as usual without giving Him much thought. It’s a totally different way of living that Jesus came to offer to us. We are to live brand-new lives with Him at the center of it all and there is nothing that compares with it. Don’t miss out on fellowship with Jesus on this side of eternity. It’s the very reason why He died.

Pastor Joey Vazquez