Devotionals

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“Men of Galilee, they said, why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go.”
Acts 1:11 (NLT)

Like many, I am certainly anticipating the return of Jesus. For a long time now there has been a tugging at my heart to want to go home where I belong with Jesus. The Lord knows that I am ready to give Him that big hug and thank you that I have been waiting to give Him since I was saved. I know who my true love is and I await Him with as much excitement that the maidens were awaiting the bridegroom. I wish everyone could feel this excitement of finally being where you belong; the excitement of being with the one person you want to be with in the whole universe. I pray everyday that He will come soon – I want to go home.

The disciples met Jesus in person, but it wasn’t until He rose from the dead before they understood exactly who He was. Paul met Jesus face to face also. But, unlike the disciples, Paul knew what he had been saved from – a life of killing God’s people. We know from his writings that he was grateful that he could now exalt Jesus as Lord, instead of killing his followers as fanatics who were trying to usurp the Pharasitical ways that he himself once taught others to follow with all of its extra-unlawful dos and don’ts.

If every Christian would live the lives we were commanded to live, and if we did all of the things Jesus told us we should be doing until His return, I believe that the condition of the world would be far better than it is. Too many Christians get saved and expect all other Christians to do the work of the Kingdom of God, while they just go to church and go home forgetting what they had just been taught. God has given each of us certain gifts to uplift the church and the world around us. Maybe if we used those gifts to their full potential, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we just might make this world a better place. Jesus is longing to come back and find those who were faithful to Him in doing His work by spreading the message He died to give us. If we knew the date that Jesus was coming back, we would all do everything we could to bring heaven to those whom we haven’t reached out to yet. Let’s not let Him down.

Comment: "The other thing you said was: “If we knew the date that Jesus was coming back, we would all do everything we could to bring heaven to those whom we haven’t reached out to yet. Let’s not let Him down.” I think this is true to a certain extent but I also believe we would hear a lot of, “Well, I’ve still got time.”

Author Response: I feel bad for those who believe that they have more time. If we could just make them realize that they could die tomorrow without Jesus and live in eternity in hell, which is not where, I believe, they really want to be. If we could make them realize that God has a day and time already picked out for their death, and that day just may be tomorrow. If we look really closely at the way Jesus spoke, we would see that even He had an urgency to His voice and teachings. Even He wanted people to feel God's love, peace, joy, and forgiveness at the moment He was speaking to them. And if God is urgent for us to know Him now, how much more should we all be?

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