John 17:24
In my quiet time yesterday, the Lord challenged me that since His prayerful desire was our love for one another, I should strive to humbly seek oneness in my relationships with other Christians. I tend to not be very diplomatic (I like being right), so this is something I must work on; but somehow it must be possible for unity to happen without contradicting my convictions. The answer lies in my humility, my willingness to take the high road, my desire to show the world Christ rather than how right I am.
But there's another part to Jesus' High Priestly prayer. "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world." (Lot's of good stuff in that sentence: the subjection of all things under Christ, the present enthronement of Christ in glory, the eternal Son of God.)
Remember, this is Jesus' prayer over us. It must get to the heart of some things...the heart desire of our pre-crucified, pre-resurrected, pre-ascended Lord. It seems that His greatest desire was not to see us become great at our jobs or great in our homes or build great big churches or be healthy all the time. His desire is for us to (pardon me for the Piper-esque statement) enjoy Him forever. To be with Him in glory. To behold His glory and worship Him eternally.
If the desire of Christ was for the world to know about Him through our love for one another, we should desire and seek oneness. If the desire of Christ was for us to be in His glorious presence, we should have in our sights the prize that awaits us--the presence of our wonderful Savior.
Here's the point: We must learn to live with a heavenly, eternal perspective. We don't live for the here and now; we live for the bright Tomorrow. We don't store up treasures on earth; we live for the heavenly day of reward. We don't settle for "mud pies" of temporal earth when we have before us the offer of eternal "holidays" on the beaches of heaven (to quote and paraphrase C.S. Lewis).
I'm not talking about eternal optimism (well, I guess I am in a way). I'm speaking of eternal hope. The hope of life. The perspective of life that leaves no fear on our death bed or any other bed we make when when we make it in focus of reality. And what is reality? It is not what we can see, feel, smell, hold, hug, use, or store up. This whole earth is passing away. The reality of life is unseen--the eternal Kingdom. Let us set our sights on that. Let us desire the place where the Lord is. That was His prayer over us.
My challenge today, which I will share with you in the form of a challenge, is to see all things through the lense of eternity rather then the lense of comfort, of retirement, of finances, of expedience...whatever our fleshly agenda may be. Jesus desires our presence; let's desire His presence in every move we make.
I'm praying for you today.
