LONGING TO LIVE IN HIS PRESENCE

 

The Small Child in all of us

 Image courtesy of https://biblicalchoices.wordpress.com/2019/06/21/gods-presence-grace/

The Love space

In our hearts, we all long to be loved and appreciated. A child's need number one is to be loved and they need assurance of that.  They want to be lifted up, to be held, cuddled, hugged, and appreciated. As Christians, our ultimate goal is to get to heaven and we need to be assured of that all the time by feeling that we are in the presence of God. There is this small child in all of us who need assurance from our Father that we are all on the right track in this journey.

We are on a journey that we eventually hope to get to heaven where we shall have eternal rest.  That longing pushes us to do things to prove to God that we are worthy to be in his presence, we deserve a seat in his high table. If Jesus were to come to us today to address our needs, what would he tell us?

            The Rich man: 

Mark 10:17-31 tells us of the story of a rich man who had everything but felt he needed to be assured that he will get to heaven.  According to him, he had observed every law that was required of him, in fact, from our human perspective we would agree because he was blessed with a lot of wealth a sign that he had already earned God’s favor even though the bible says otherwise, Ephesians 2:8 and 9 tells us that salvation is a gift of grace that we accept by Faith not our works. It is already there all we need is faith to possess it. By faith, we are already in God’s presence. Jesus’ approach to the rich man’s question should teach us this truth.

Verse 17: as Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him.  “Good teacher”, he asked, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ We do not know the name of this person but we know he was very rich indeed. His story is covered in three Bible books.  Mathew 19: 16-30, Luke 18: 18-30 and Mark 10:17-31. From the three passages, we can confer that he was rich, young, and probably a ruler or a religious leader. He had everything but lacked just one out of all of them, “the way to get to heaven”.  Like most of us, he was looking for that.  When he had about Jesus, he went to him to find out how much it would cost him to get a ticket to heaven.  In his mind, he probably thought, with his immense wealth, there was nothing beyond his reach.  He could buy anything so long as Jesus told him the cost.  Unfortunately, Jesus did not want him to “plant a seed” or Sell everything he had and bring it to God in church.”

            None of us is Holy: 

Verse 18: “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good –except, God alone.” None of us is good “clean, sinless, upright, righteous “except God alone.  None of us should act like we are closer to God than the rest.  We are all weak, broken beings needing strength that comes from the one and only giver, God, through his son Jesus Christ.  At times we use our human gauge to determine who is and who is not saved or worthy of being in the presence of God. We are all seeking to be there in our own ways.  The understanding of this rich man was limited or he already had an answer to give Christ but unfortunately, Jesus didn’t meet his expectations.  He probably had a plan in his mind if Christ gave him the go-ahead.  He could have built a church, He could have bought Jesus a car to move him from one place to another, or he could have given a large chunk of his wealth to the church.  But that is not what Jesus required of him.    

Verse 19: You know the commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother” From where Jesus was standing, he could see this gentleman inside out, from his childhood to his present.  Why would he remind him about laws he already believed he kept? This is a familiar statement among us.  We believe in ourselves, and we know we are right, but let’s look back and ask ourselves questions, let’s listen to what people say about us, we are not that perfect. Are we really in our own terms worthy to be in the presence of God?

             Jesus Loved Him:

Verse 21: Jesus looked at him and loved him.  Jesus loved him, the same way he looks and loves all of us the way we are.  He looked at him and saw his shortcomings, he saw his hunger for the love of God, his yearning to be in God’s presence.  He was willing to do anything to be there. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.  Then come, follow me”. He was missing treasure in heaven. The only way he would invest in heaven was by distributing his huge wealth to the poor, to those who didn’t have, to the hungry, the sick, very specific and to the point.  He failed in our commandment, he did not love his neighbor as he loved himself.  He was living in riches while his neighbors were languishing in poverty. 

What is the cost of us reaching the presence of God?  Are we supposed to earn it?