As I entered the new year I wrote an article on the need to know who Jesus is. I had no idea what God had in store for me. We started the year with a series of Bible reading plans (downloadable here). One of our groups, the Discipleship Course, is reading the entire New Testament in one month, a truly fascinating experience. It's unbelievable how easy and quick reading the Bible can be when you get serious about it.
So I spent a lot of time immersed in the Gospels and one evening, while I was meditating on the word of God, As I was preparing for the next day's message, all of a sudden I was aware of the Holy Spirit working on me. It was as if my eyes had suddenly been opened and the eyes of my heart were illuminated, as the Scriptures say, and I saw Jesus. Not physically, but in my spirit I received a profound insight into His Person, His Nature, His character, the quality of His life, and His heart toward people.
I saw His self-denial, His love, His extraordinary compassion, the constant gift He made of Himself. I saw the kindness that characterized him; I saw him intervene in people's distress, remove their despair, get involved in the most desperate situations; and at every moment, he brought help.
Throughout his life, he helped people, taught them, encouraged them, and freed them; and the truth of this verse was imposed on me: 'God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the power of the Holy Spirit. He went around doing good and healing all who had fallen prey to the devil, for God was with him.' Acts 10:38. Deeply moved, I laid my head on my Bible and wept; and this lasted all night; I fell asleep, woke up, prayed, wept, worshipped Jesus, moved and grateful. Finally, in the morning, having regained my calm, I left to announce the gospel, happy.
During the worship, God placed a passage on my heart that apparently had nothing to do with the prepared message. It's the story of the man who left to receive a kingdom, leaving sums of money to his servants, charging them to manage them until his return. My English translation presents it thus: 'Do business till I come.' They were ordered to manage the master's affairs, to make his business prosper until his return.
This wonderful reality that is Jesus, the life He lived on earth, the good He did, healing people, bringing them restoration, lifting them out of despair, is meant to be continued by His church; acting exactly as He did, wholeheartedly and selflessly. We know these things, but it seems to me that unless we are truly connected to the heart of Jesus and understand the depth of Jesus' goodness, we cannot fully do the work of Jesus.
That day as I began the message I shared a little of that experience and the word that the Lord had placed in my heart and I encouraged God's people to dedicate their lives to taking care of the Master's business until His return. (Listen to it here)Life has its share of busyness and sometimes we can find our time and energy caught up in everyday life, being so self-centered that we forget the Master's injunction to take care of His business, the business of the kingdom of God; to love and communicate life to people and do them good.
As I was praying this morning, one thing became apparent to me, I found what I would like to see in my epitaph; I don't want it said that I wrote many books, or preached all over the world; I don't want it said that I was very popular, a friend of the great of this world; I don't want mention made of my social status, no; I want it said of me, as of Jesus, that I went about doing good, bringing people out of desperate circumstances and out of the most desperate of all, separation from God.
Shalom!
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