Christ Awareness
Tough day yesterday for Mario. He really appreciated the love and tears he experienced from the kids and adults at the youth group meeting on Sunday night. Both he and his mother have a challenging road ahead of them. Without getting into specifics, please be praying for their safety. I’ll e-mail his address to folks in case you want to send him a line. It may prove to be a lifeline.
In the Old Testament reading for this morning (Nehemiah 12) there was great rejoicing over the completion of the rebuilt wall around Jerusalem. Today, in this age of the New Covenant, we rejoice in the tearing down of the wall between Jew and Gentile, between insiders and outsiders, and especially between us and God. I’m reminded of how, immediately after Jesus’ death, the veil that separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was torn from top to bottom — signifying that we now have immediate access to the throne and presence of God.
This reminds me of the politician who after winning a hard run campaign said, “So what do we do now?”
I’m not sure that very many of us have figured out what to do with how available and accessible God is to us, or with the fact that Jesus is now in our lives. It may be that in many ways it feels like the wall is still up and that there is a veil that keeps us from seeing or sensing that Jesus is with us.
Being aware of Christ is right at the top of my spiritual learn-how-to-do list right now. I’m sure there are hundreds of ways to do that, and so I don’t want to suggest that my way is necessarily going to be your way. But over the next few posts I’d like to share a few things that I’ve been learning which hopefully will get you thinking about how you connect with Jesus during the day.
I’ll end this post by mentioning the first thing that I think is important — desire. I have to want it, really, really want it, so much that I’m willing to do anything or give up anything or go anywhere to find it. And then it’s a matter of expressing this desire to Jesus and asking him to point the way.
In today’s Gospel reading Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46).
Desire. That’s where it starts.
