2 Thes 1:5-10 refers to the judgment and joy that Christ will bring when "the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." Paul draws a stark and frightening contrast between the suffering that "those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" will experience, and the glory and marveling that his saints will enjoy. As I read this passage, I asked myself, "What will I be found doing when He comes?"
This question can be (and has been for me at various times) a deterrent from obvious moral transgression. It is a frightful thing to imagine being found rejecting God and willfully engaging in sin. But it seems just as important to consider the more subtle aspects and implications of this question. "What will I be found thinking about, focused on, working on, resting from?" Productivity is so much about what has your attention. It doesn't mean we need to be "doing" all of the time--the most productive thing at any given moment might be rest or meditation. It will be a marvelous thing to be found sitting quietly--or even taking a break in a day of hard work and diligence. But I do not want to be found wasting time with things that either numb me to God's designs or focus me on myself. Almost anything can be a candidate: shopping, overeating, web surfing, worrying, social networking. I also do not want to be found wasting time for lack of planning, like spending 2 hours looking for a lost document in a pile of un-filed papers, or bouncing from task to task without completing any because I don't know what to do next.
Only God knows when he will come (e.g. 1 Thes 5:2). And when He does, those who are truly his sheep will forget everything we were doing or not doing when we hear His voice. In the meantime, faith is staying with Him, peacefully and diligently walking in the good works he has prepared beforehand for us to.
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