“Why do you stand looking up into heaven?” (Acts 1:11). No doubt they were awestruck, those disciples who saw Jesus physically lift off the earth and rise toward the heavens. “Get on with it,” said the angels in effect. “Jesus told you what to do. Go do it.”
Where are we gazing? “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:62-63). Are we fixating on things of the “flesh,” things apart from Christ, seeing success only in business, only in family, yearning for fulfillment apart from Jesus? Yes, we are embodied beings; we need things of the flesh, but they’re not the essence of life. “Man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3).
The first task this weekend after the Ascension is to look to heaven, awestruck that God sent His Son, our Savior by cross and resurrection, and then received Him back into glory. Awestruck, but then let’s get on with it. “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day, night is coming, when no one can work” (John 6:4).
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