Three notes - A: I missed a day this week, so that is why I am journaling on Saturday. B: I am gone next week (Mission Trip, no computer access), so I will make 5 chapter headings and you guys can read and comment on the chapter you read each day. It's all on your shoulders - you'll do great! C: Sheldon had a great idea...we are going to read through Acts next, so that we can save Luke and John's accounts of Jesus' life for later in the year (To get a little Jesus throughout the year, and to miss out on some redundancy) - sound good?
1:9ff - How cool is Jesus? Rocketing into heaven on a cloud! The original Superman...and the only real one for that matter - sure the comic Superman could fly, but Jesus created the universe - top that! I think we have a case of something similar to what happened on the day of the Transfiguration (Matthew 17) going on - the disciples are so blown away by the power of Jesus that thy don't want to move. Maybe they are thinking he will be right back and so they are going to wait; maybe they want to set up shop at the place where Jesus flew into heaven, and they just want to stay there and worship him...whatever it is they are stuck, staring at the sky. The angels show up to give them a little jump start, "Hey guys, it's time to get to work - move it along - nothing to see here - shows over people!" Jesus didn't train these disciples to sit and enjoy the show - he trained them to go and do - to change the world, and that's what they did. I don't want to allow myself to get to a place whee I am sitting and waiting for God to move - He created me to be His hands and feet in this world, and I want to trust Him and step out in faith...God please give me the strength to walk the path f Christ daily.
1:20 - "Let another take his office." This is from Psalm 109...go and read this Psalm right now if you have the time, it is incredible. Look at how the Spirit of God is moving through David...he is crying out to God about his own struggles, but what he is unknowingly doing is prophecy about what will happen to the Son of God - how he will be betrayed. Is that not incredible. David speaks of how he is guiltless, but he has accusers on every side. He cries out that he is innocent, yet being mocked and betrayed by the people he rules. Sound familiar? God granted David mercy in his hour of need, when he was surrounded and betrayed...yet when Jesus cried out to escape the betrayal that was awaiting him, God offered him over to his accusers - for me...and you. That is the beautiful love that we find ourselves surrounded by.
2 comments:
I have heard this passage of 12-26 used many times as an argument of predestination (you go to heaven, you go to hell, etc.) – i.e. that Judas had no choice. The problem that creates is one of we all must be predestined for one or the other with no choice.
But we are dealing with a God who has no limitations. God has already written a play-by-play book for the end of the world. So for God to create a human that does what God can already see (remember the marker trick) may be hard for us to understand, but it is still within the character and nature of God. Maybe it pained God to create Judas knowing what would happen. It must pain Him everyday to see His creations rejecting His ways.
Don’t be Judas – don’t betray everything you know is right – Jesus – for some worldly lie – money, fame, power. In the final judgment, God will show Judas that Judas did indeed have a choice as do we all – and that Judas chose poorly...
j
I love the book of Acts. One of my favorite things about it is this first chapter. When Jesus tells them to wait. We have a group of people who have basically won the lottery. Everyone of these people knew the prophecies in the OT, or were at least familiar with them. Ascending into heaven before them was the for sure, without a doubt answer that many people had been looking for. Can you sense their excitement? Yet Jesus tells them to wait? How hard was that? It's like getting a christmas present, and then being told to wait till new years to play with it.
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