Your Most Cherished Plans Might Not Be As Good As You Think (Acts 1:4-8)

“So when they had come together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, at this time are You restoring the kingdom of Israel?’” (Acts 1:6)

I am always amazed at how often the disciples didn’t get it. They were experts at missing the point. Even after three and a half years under the direct tutelage of Jesus Himself, even after His death and resurrection, they are still concerned about earthly power. They are still focused on kicking the Romans out and establishing the kingdom of Israel. Old habits die hard; old patterns of thinking die even harder.

More than my astonishment at the disciples, though, I am always amazed at the grace of Jesus. If I were Jesus, it would be at this point where I’d take all my toys back and go play somewhere else, with someone more worthy. But it is at this point that He bestows upon these blind guides His vision of the gospel going to all the earth – with them at the middle of it all!

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

While the disciples are still grasping for earthly power, Jesus promises to hand them a different, infinitely superior kind of power. While they seek to reestablish a kingdom within the borders of Israel, Jesus invites them into a kingdom that has no borders. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, they will become partakers in something more earthshaking than all the power this world could muster.

I guess this shouldn’t surprise me, though. Jesus is always offering us better gifts than whatever “prize” we clutch so tightly in our stubborn hands. He is always inviting us into more breathtaking stories than the little ones we’ve plotted out ourselves.

Because although I am amazed by the shortsighted smallness of the disciples’ thinking, I also find that reading about them is a lot like looking into a mirror. I am right alongside them as they chase after things that don’t even matter. But, thank God, I am also right alongside them to receive the grace of Jesus. In the outpouring of that grace, I hear His voice calling me to hunger and thirst for better things – for the gift of the Spirit, for the kingdom of heaven.

http://bandico.deviantart.com/art/Letting-Go-349426169

And as I continue to read, I watch in awe as this small group of unqualified misfits gather together to seek the Lord with all their hearts. I watch as the tongues of fire come down to rest upon them; I watch as their previously cherished dreams drop from their hands and roll away into the shadows. I watch their eyes rise higher.

I, too, want to let go.

I, too, want to fix my eyes on Jesus.