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“You cannot know times and dates which have been fixed by the Father’s sole authority. But you are to be given power when the Holy Spirit has come to you. You will be witnesses to me, not only in Jerusalem, not only throughout Judea, not only in Samaria, but to the very ends of the earth!” When he had said these words he was lifted up before their eyes till a cloud hid him from their sight. While they were still gazing up into the sky as he went, suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them and said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the sky? This very Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come back in just the same way as you have seen him go.” (Acts 1:7-11) * * * One is reminded here of Elisha peeling his eyes to see Elijah taken heavenward: he truly believed that seeing that sight would assure his attaining a spiritual “double portion.” And now I’m reminded that keeping our eyes on the eyes of Jesus—watching His face as He ascends—is thusly knowing the One who sits upon the throne of Heaven. Our own “double portion” is to possess His Spirit (here, within us) and to “know the one in whom I have placed my confidence” (there, seated, forever).
Our eyes are unto your eyes, Jesus!
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The Kingdom of Heaven is just like Jesus: always looking for the lost. It quickly comes to terms with those ready to be redeemed. They are chosen by Him and sent out to do His work. Out there, they find themselves increasingly surrounded by other rescued ones He’s rescuing. (Some of His choices are surprising in revealing His graciousness: there is seemingly no accounting for His taste in people.)
The Kingdom of Heaven pays out what He offers: His personal presence; a calling throughout life; eternal life as the final reward. Our work for Him will be as valuable to us as our present awareness of His presence is: we may experience eternal life, not “someday,” but right now. Alas for the ones who waste their lives in gradating royal brothers and sisters! Blessed are they who enjoy that particular wealth of the Kingdom today! (from Mt. 20:1-16) “We must understand that God does not ‘love’ us without liking us—through gritted teeth—as ‘Christian’ love is sometimes thought to do. Rather, out of the eternal freshness of his perpetually self-renewed being, the heavenly Father cherishes the earth and each human being upon it. The fondness, the endearment, the unstintingly affectionate regard of God toward all his creatures is the natural outflow of what he is to the core—which we vainly try to capture with our tired but indispensable old word ‘love’.” Dallas Willard The Divine Conspiracy * * * * “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (John 13:34, NLT)
X.269 Nothing can compete with the splendors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let nothing compete with the splendors of the Kingdom of Heaven!
X.270 The Kingdom of Heaven is an attaining unto joy; attaining to the Kingdom of Heaven is to be possessed by its King’s joy. X.271 The Kingdom of Heaven is its seekers seeking it—then finding that they were already found before they found it. X.272 Only one “selling of a soul” is needful here. X.273 The Kingdom of Heaven is broader than you can imagine; yet narrower, and narrowing, as its catch is drawn, hand over hand, toward shore. X.274 (We will never understand all that Jesus meant; means. And this is alright.) |
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