“The way we conceive the future scripts the present, gives contour and tone to nearly every action and thought through the day. The Christian faith has always been characterized by a strong and focused sense of the future. The practical effect of this belief is to charge each moment of the present with hope.” —Eugene Peterson (The Message, intro to 1 Thessalonians)
1 Thessalonians 1:1 (NIV): Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
1 Thessalonians 2:19 (NIV): For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes?
1 Thessalonians 3:13 (NIV): May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 (NIV): 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.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (NIV): 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.