What does Paul mean when talks about people "falling asleep?"

As I was reading 1 Thessalonians 4-5 this morning, I was perplexed at first, however, with the help of the amplified version, I realized that there are two types of people who may be "asleep."

There are the dead in Christ who have “fallen asleep.”

Those are the saints whose physical bodies have died, but they themselves have not died because they have “died in Christ.”

Then there are the those who are still very much alive, but have fallen asleep to the reality of God's Kingdom.

Those who live their lives in a state of wakeful sleep are said to be in the dark. Which is an apt analogy, for when one sleeps, it's most often after the sun has gone down in a pitch black night.

Of the two, being asleep while alive is a much worse condition than to be asleep while dead in Christ. To be asleep in Christ is to be in a state of peaceful rest, while sleepwalking through life is to live in a state of denial and self-deception.

Both chapters of 1 Thessalonians address Christ’s second coming and our awareness of it.

The Bible makes it very clear that no one knows the time or day of the Lord's return, but it should not come as a surprise to those of us who are alive in Christ.

We are to be aware.

Those of us who are alive should remain awake in full confidence of the truth of Jesus' second coming, and should guard our “awake-ness” with two pieces of armor that Paul mentions in chapter 5.

The first is the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation, in my translation, is made up of the hope and confident assurance of salvation.

Hope is the expectation of what is promised. We who are awake protect our saving grace, our hope in salvation, by remembering that salvation is a sure thing.

We can rest in the assurance that what Christ did, and what He says, is true. Despite our circumstances, we can be confident that Christ already overcame our greatest obstacle on the cross. We need to protect our minds by viewing the situations in our lives through the lens of hope.

An unprotected mind focuses on present circumstances instead of the long term outcomes already determined by God and His word.

As well as the helmet of salvation, Paul encourages us to put on the the breastplate of faith and love.

The breastplate of faith and love protects our vital organs for living. Faith is our belief, and all the love we give and receive comes from God. How many of us try to love God by thinking that we are the source? That is, how many of us have the belief that if we love him, and if we can just be holy enough, then he will love us?

It's easy to get wrapped up in that lie, but the truth of God’s word says that we love because he first loved us.

This applies to loving Him, ourselves, and our neighbor.

We are to guard our hearts through faith and love, for a merry heart does good like a melody, and out of the heart flows the spring of life.

Unprotected, the heart is vulnerable to sickness and even spiritual death.

If you read all of chapter 5, you will find other ways to avoid spiritual death. I would encourage you to read it for yourself. If you study that chapter closely, you'll see how loving one another well can provide life and encouragement to your own heart as well as others.

We do not want to be alive and unaware. The day of the Lord comes fast, and we will all fall asleep one way or another. Dead or alive, Christ will come for us all, however, it is not easy for Him to awaken those who were never alive in Him to begin with.

With that said, stay awake, keep a sober mind, and live protected.