Christians, I think that many of you may remember the 3D artwork craze a number of years back. The artwork looks abstract, it was created by computers, and you have to look at it just right to see the image jump off the page. Well, these were very popular when I was a kid and they were in books, in pictures, they even printed one every week in the Sunday comics. The problem was, I could NOT see them.
Not one. Other people would talk about it, see it, say what was in there, but no matter how hard I looked, stared, crossed my eyes, I simply couldn’t see it at all. I got frustrated, after a while I even quit looking at the pictures, I just figured it wasn’t for me. I resolved that I would never see them and that was fine with me, no big loss. Fast forward 10 years. I was at a friends house and I saw under the coffee table, a 3D artwork book. I pulled it out, fully expecting to be unable to see them at all. I opened the book up, and with a little coaching from my friend, the image finally JUMPED off the page! I could not believe it. I flipped to the next page, YES! Again and again I saw 3D image after 3D image and felt great and excited to be a part of the “3D seeing” club!
So what does any of this have to do with the Kingdom of God? As Christians, we are all invited to be in the spiritual 3D seeing club. We should be able to feel God, sense Him, see Him at work in our lives. Unfortunately, the lost are much like I was, UNABLE to see. No matter how hard they try, their spiritual eyes are not open. If they have not received Christ, they will not be able to “see” Him in their lives.
I think back, every Sunday morning I would get up, every comic strip I looked at, there was a picture there, for years I questioned even if it was real, or were other people just “saying” they saw it, but were they really just like me? Now I am certain that there was, and I know those people who said they saw it, really were able to see something that I could not see.
We must be compassionate, kind, loving and encouraging to those who can’t “see” into the Kingdom of God. Every Sunday they may get up, they may even go to Church, they see people praising and worshiping, talking excitedly about what God is doing in their lives, and they question, they wonder, are we all making this up? Christians, we may have been in the “seeing” club for a while now, but try and remember your lost days or when you first came to know God. Then think about that excitement, the first time you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, how ALIVE you felt. When Jesus appeared in your life and became real to you.
Just like I saw that book under the coffee table and scoffed at it, thinking there was NOTHING in that book for me. We must wait for an opportunity where there is someone looking at our Bible, scoffing, thinking that there is nothing in the Bible for them. Maybe with a little coaching, encouragement and direction, Jesus will jump off the page and radically change the way they see this life and the Kingdom of God, In Jesus Name, Amen.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again”. John 3:3 (NIV)
I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Acts 26:17-18 (NIV)
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” John 9:25 (NIV) (reference to the man that was blind from birth that Jesus healed)
When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my Lord! What shall we do?, the servant asked. “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. II Kings 6:15-17 (NIV)
written and posted by Daniel Poggensee | 2016
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