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1 Thessalonians 5:8

⁸But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

The context in which we find this verse was Paul's exhortation about the behavior of believers who were expecting the return of the Lord. Paul had taught them that the world would be caught completely unaware, but believers would be ready. That is because we are children of the day. We walk in the light. The world lives for the night where darkness hides their sin. The darkness prevents them from seeing what is coming.

Because the Lord will return and call His followers to be with Him, we should live in anticipation of that day. We should live every day as if it were our last. We want to be about the Lord's business when He returns for us. We certainly don't want to find ourselves compromising in sin when that moment comes.

That is why Paul exhorted the Thessalonian church to be sober. That not only means free from intoxication, but also to be serious about the time we have been given. We wear the breastplate of faith and love. The world sees us as a people of faith who treat others with love. Our head is protected with the hope of salvation. Our expectation is of that glorious day when Jesus' work in us is complete. Each morning when we rise we should think that today might be the day. I want Him to find me faithful to the call He has given me when that moment comes.

Consider: Even if Jesus' return is a hundred years from now, I may not have tomorrow. I must be about my Father's business (Luke 2:49).