| | One time, my pastor preached a sermon that totally messed with my head. It was about the first chapter in Revelation, and a great deal of it dealt with verse 10, which reads "On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet," (NIV).
It's easy to gloss over the first part of that verse, but consider. The Apostle John, elderly by this time, was on a death island when this took place. He had been exiled to Patmos by Rome in order to starve to death and stop being a bother to the government.
Instead, he was "in the Spirit," and he tells us this took place "on the Lord's day."
How did he know?
My pastor's point was that John spent all his time on Patmos in the Spirit, to the point that every day became the Lord's day. It did not matter to John what his circumstances were. He used his time to fellowship with Christ.
Just imagine: Another long, monotonous, forgotten day on the island. John awakes from an uncomfortable and less-than-restful sleep. Once again, instead of succumbing to the temptation to complain or let his mind sink into his circumstances, John turns his mind and heart to God's Spirit. Perhaps he quotes portions of the Hebrew Scriptures, passages he's preached on so many times. Perhaps he sings. He hardly notices day turn to afternoon, his mind lost in deep, loving fellowship with His Friend and Savior.
Suddenly, John hears a voice like no other voice he's ever heard. He turns and sees his best friend, the friend who used to help him clean his nets and solve disputes with his brother, the friend who has sustained him throughout his long and active life. For so long, John has known and believed that his friend is the Son of God, but now he sees.
The Carpenter is the King.
And John falls at His feet as if he's dead. Exile, starvation, suffering-none of that could accomplish what one single glance at the Person of Jesus did.
I want to live my life in such a way that every day is Jesus' day, so that the only thing left that can mess me up-no disaster, no grief, no pain, no deprivation-the only thing left with the power to mess me up is an encounter with the Living God.
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| | Posted 1/24/2010 11:57 AM - 51 Views - 16 eProps - 15 comments
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