FaithGateway
March 23, 2021
Imagine if Jesus stood before you with a golden envelope. The envelope contains an invitation to know and experience Jesus like never before. To discover Christ in His breathtaking beauty, His staggering strength, His wondrous power, and the depths of His relentless love for you.
Would you take the envelope?
Or would you say,
Eh, I’m good. I don’t like the packaging. Not for me.
To be honest, for most of my life, that’s how I’ve thought of Revelation.
Maybe you have, too.
For me, my aversion comes from childhood. I was raised by free-spirited parents who became believers during the Jesus movement of the 1970s.
My soul ached, and I didn’t know how to fix it. I knew God could, but how? I knelt in front of my antique dresser and sent a silent plea to heaven. As if a light turned on in my heart, I felt hope.
God is enough. The thought comforted me like few others had. He would get me through this a situation beyond my control to fix. This “storm” may linger, and the “lightning” may still crack. But God would be with me through the downpour. I had hope that the sun would break through the clouds again.
A story that haunts me is Jesus’ encounter with a nameless, wealthy young man as he made his final journey toward Jerusalem.
Here was an important civic leader, a youthful climber with a prestige, bearing, and bank account that would have been the envy of many older men in Judea. But there was a hollowness in his chest that led him ever so close to the God adventure of a lifetime.
For all his status and personal wealth, this man had a hungry heart. The gospel of Mark tells us that he ran to Jesus, falling on his knees in the dust before him. You know the story. He asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life. He knew the commands, and he’d kept them all since he was a boy.
Dolores Rivera had a dream, one that contained a message from God. She dreamed of a pillowcase slowly falling, and its four corners grabbed her attention. Some weeks later, she heard of a town called Dolores, Colorado, a few miles away from a place called the Four Corners.
The Four Corners is a unique location where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah meet geographically. God called her to go to the Four Corners and pray.
After months of prayer, Dolores saved enough money for an airline ticket to Colorado but was short the funds for a hotel and food for a week. Knowing God would provide, Dolores exercised blind faith and obeyed.
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36 (ESV)
I stood behind one more servers table, peering into the eyes of a woman I d never met. But I knew our experience would forever change my effectiveness in ministry. It s not a proud moment when you discover, after many years of Christian service, you really weren t serving in the name of Jesus.
Up until a few days before that fateful night, I thought I was ministering the Gospel by merely serving people s physical needs. Then God began asking me if I was just hiding behind the soup ladle, or was I truly giving those I served the full measure of what I had been given?