Do You Know What You Have?

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Scripture:

Matt. 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
Matt. 13:17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

Observation:

Jesus was speaking to his disciples and explaining to them that they were truly blessed.  The world had long awaited the coming of the Messiah.  There were many prophets and righteous people who would have loved to have been with Jesus but they didn’t get to walk and talk with him.  Instead, these disciples were the ones who had the blessing of seeing and hearing Jesus.  The beauty was that they were appreciative of what they were experiencing.  Their eyes truly saw, and their ears truly heard and as a result they were followers of the Messiah, the promised one. 

Application:

After Jesus ascended into heaven he sent the Holy Spirit to be the Comforter among his people.  This promise of the Holy Spirit is important in the life of the follower of Christ.  It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are regenerated — or made new, transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ himself.  This incredible transformational power means that we too can personally experience God!  This begs the question, “Do you know what you have?” 

I’m afraid that far too many followers of Christ take for granted the fact that we may be empowered by the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  There are people in the past who would have longed to experience what we are able to experience. 

What else do we take for granted?  Through the centuries there have been Christians who have gone to their death because they wanted to worship together in church as followers of Jesus Christ.  Today we live in a time where we have either taken the church for granted, or we have determined that the church is irrelevant.  The church, with all of her warts, bumps and bruises is still the bride of Christ.  There are those who have gone before who died to have what we have.  They longed to see what we see and hear what we hear.  What are we going to do with what we have?

That was the question for the disciples.  Did they realize what they had — and then, what would they do with it?  That question is the same for us today as we are challenged to open our eyes and see, and truly listen with our ears.  We are a blessed people who can freely worship God in gathered communities of faith.  Many have longed for this day.  May we never take for granted the blessed gifts that have been given to us and may we care for these gifts in ways that would be pleasing to our Savior.

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit and your bride, the church.  Amen.




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