Monday, May 2, 2005
Acts 1:10-11 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."
LEFT WITH A PLAN
Whenever a dear friend leaves us after a visit there is a certain feeling of emptiness or loss that accompanies it. At the airport we watch until the last speck of a departing flight has disappeared into the clouds. When Jesus ascended into heaven, HIs disciples too kept looking intently upward until an angel broke their reverie by saying, "Why do you stand there looking into the sky?"
Jesus' visible presence was no longer among His followers, but that didn't mean their ministry was over and Christian missions would grind to a halt just because they could not see the risen Christ. For the believers on earth, there was much they could look forward to and do for their Savior. Jesus had left them with a plan. He had said to them, "You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
They did not have to stand looking into the sky. Instead, they could stand and deliver the message of Christ crucified and risen to all the earth beginning right where they were.
Christ's ascension provides encouragement to all of us, his witnesses. We cannot see him, but we have His word to share -- and He did not rise into the clouds without leaving us opportunities for this joyful service. May He cause His kingdom to come to others through the witness of our mouths!
