Are We Loving Enough to Redeem the Time Until Jesus Comes?
Good Morning Friends,
When I read about the miracles in the Bible that we too are to share in, it becomes apparent that in perfect love the physical is subject to the spiritual. That is why in prayer, we ask heaven to come to earth. Jesus’ incarnation and Jesus’ ascension bears out this power of the spiritual and its manifestation from the inside out and the outside in. We see it as Jesus rises up to heaven and imagine it on his return to earth. And this leaves us with a question. Are We Loving Enough to Redeem the Time Until Jesus Comes?
Scripture: He has saved us and called us to a holy life–not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,
2 Timothy 1:9 (NIV)
10Therefore, brothers and sisters,* be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.
2 Peter 1:10 (NRSV)
Of David. A Psalm.1 The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; 2 for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers. 3Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.5 They will receive blessing from the Lord, and vindication from the God of their salvation. 6 Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.* Selah
7Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in. 8Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors! That the King of glory may come in. 10Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah
Psalm 24 (NRSVTop of FormBottom of Form
9When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Acts 1:9 (NRSV)
Message: Ascension Day is one of the neglected days of the Christian church. This year it occurs on Thursday, May 14, 2015. We miss something important by not reflecting on its message. Friends, without it the work of Christ would be incomplete. Its full significance is related to the historical life of Jesus when on Earth but more relevant perhaps his continuing ministry for us in Heaven. It ushers in the Kingdom of God and the reign of Christ from Heaven. This is a big topic to tackle, but it is an important one. If Jesus was just a human being, then although his teaching may be special, it can be added to the common pot of human religious wisdom. But if he is somehow sitting on the right hand of God, with God, in union with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, we had better pay more careful attention to what he said and discerning what is said about Him. The gospel writer Luke is renowned as a careful historian. When he recorded the birth of Jesus he rooted the event in its historical setting within the Roman Empire. He continues that same preciseness at the end of our Lord’s earthly ministry by recalling the place of the Ascension – at Bethany, a village on the Mount of Olives. He dates the event as the 40th day of the resurrection…a balance of sorts with the 40 days of temptation. Luke emphases the presence of eyewitnesses of the Ascension to assure even the most skeptical of Jesus’ power and authority. Still the Ascension must always remain a mystery in the sense that it’s beyond the scope of human experience. It takes us into the realm of the supernatural. We were not there to see it first-hand. So for us friends, the Ascension is a day dividing when the Jesus of Earth became the Christ of Heaven. It remains a mystery. Still, however it happened, we are blessed to live in a time of grace and experience of a calling until Christ returns. So here in preparation we remember the promise of His return, and here we worship our Lord and Savior believing in His rule of love acting in love according to our calling.
Pray we embrace love with our mind, reason, and will. Pray we love with imagination and feeling. Pray we realize that Jesus took His sufferings to heaven. Pray we realize that Jesus took our pardon to God. Pray we believe that Jesus took an interceding spirit with Him to the Father and the authority to share the Holy Spirit with us. Pray we realize that Jesus took a plan to heaven to prepare of place for us. Pray in this time between the Ascension and Christ’s return we love one another. Pray we rejoice that Jesus took with him a desire to come again. Pray we abide with Christ. Pray we receive the power and love to serve on Earth as is in Heaven.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 