But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven." (Acts 1: 8-11)
To the ends of the earth...
Today, May 25, 2006, the Catholic Church celebrates Ascension Thursday. It is the day (40 after Easter) that we celebrate the above passage when Jesus Christ ascends into Heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.
If you notice in the above passage, Jesus' final words to them before He ascends is to "be witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and to the ends of the earth."
What does it mean to be a witness? Well, for the apostles, they lived a life of Christ and preached the Gospel and all of them (save one) had pretty horrific deaths.
Is that what God wants from us?
Yes.
He wants us to be a witness for Him. This means that we must live a life of Christ. We must preach the Gospel (using words if necessary). We must follow His commandments obediently and we must bring others closer to Him.
But even more so, we must sacrifice our lives for God. We must die to self. It's no longer what I want to do. It's what God wants me to do.
It's in that sacrifice that we are with God.
Happy Ascension Day.
2 comments:
Hi Dennis,
Sorry to post this here, but its the only way I can get a hold of you. I saw that you posted a reply to my comment on the blog helives.blogspot.com. After posting my reply to you, I decided to visit your homepage, only to realise that you are Roman Catholic.
My original comment on the aforementioned blog included what may be interpreted as a snipe at Roman Catholicism. I wanted to do the Christian, brotherly thing and nip it in the bud. Please know that my view is just that: my experience of Roman Catholicism. When I wrote it, offending anyone was the furthest thing from my mind. Please accept my appology if it offended or hurt you in any way. Most of my family remain Roman Catholic and I have Roman Catholic friends. Although I have serious claims against the roman catholic church and its doctrines, I have no problem with any roman catholic individual.
One thing I would most like to avoid, for Christ's sake, is back and forth sniping and arguments on this or any blog, or any public setting. It only weakens Christendom in the eyes on the non-believer and does no good in attracting would-be believers. I would love to continue our conversation, but only in private -- like email. Mine is fabtheman+at+gmail+dot+com.
May God bless you and what sounds like a lovely family.
In Jesus' name,
fabio
Fabio,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog. You are always welcome.
I agree with you about arguing. It's not productive and all it does is tear down His Church.
I only wanted to mention that I had never heard your take on Faith before and don't know if it's quite accurate. Not to start a flame war.
May God continue to bless you as He draws you more and more closer to Him.
Dennis
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