The Big Picture

Jesus knew he was going to return home.

Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, "Who do the crowds say that I am?" They answered, "John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "The Messiah of God." He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, "The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised." Then he said to them all, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God." - Luke 9:18-27

Unlike us, who don't know and have to believe on faith, Jesus knew he had an existence before and fater this life.

Imagine that for a moment.

Imagine knowing what home is like, and how short this visit to a small planet is for all of us.

Now imagine that all the forces in this world work to keep us focused on this life, convincing us there is no life after this one.

With so much pressure on us to make the most of every moment, we lose sight of the bigger picture.

Jesus may have come solely to shine a light on that picture for all of us.

We have a glorious life waiting for us after this.  Don't blow it!

To Jesus, this time we have here is so short it makes sense to do all we can to assure us our place with the Father.

Why wouldn't we?

But, like children who are determined to stay up late so they can watch TV, we want to squeeze as much out of this life as we can, so we put off thinking about what we could be losing out on.

And then, one day, it's over.

Some of us will be lucky.  We will know we are close to the end, and we will have a little bit of time to make amends.

But others will suddenly be gone.

For them, there will be no time to grab hold of Jesus and ask for help.

Jesus tells us to take up the cross now.  Do it while we can, while we have time.

Focus, he says, on the Big Picture.

More to come...