Praise the Lord, Brother Beacon, that we have the privilege of looking unto Jesus!!
Happy Sabbath to all, wherever you may be in this tiny planet we call home until Jesus takes us to heaven very soon!
I so appreciate the blessing of beholding Jesus. When I woke up this morning I was elated, happy in Jesus, and praising Him, looking forward to spending time with Him! When we get to know Jesus who loves us with a love that is infinite, our hearts will overflow with joyful adoration to Him! Oh, how I love Jesus!! May we sing our songs to Him from a heart that is bursting with the blessing of union and communion with Him! It is not hard when we spend hours with Jesus to have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, goodness, faith and temperance flow through our lives by the Holy Spirit!! Not one of the fruits of the Spirit will be missing as we abide in Christ and yield the whole heart to Him, for Christ gives us such an experience with Him that we love to share what He is doing in our lives!! The magi who found Jesus (see Matthew 2) became witnesses for Him much like the centurion (see Matthew 8 and Luke 7) who simply trusted Christ's word! The magi offered their BEST because they believed He was GOD! Jesus is divine and we can come with our very best to God on this Sabbath, because He first loved us and gave Himself for us!! "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Praise the Lord!!
"The magi had been among the first to welcome the Redeemer. Their gift was the first that was laid at His feet. And through that gift, what privilege of ministry was theirs! The offering from the heart that loves, God delights to honor, giving it highest efficiency in service for Him. If we have given our hearts to Jesus, we also shall bring our gifts to Him. Our gold and silver, our most precious earthly possessions, our highest mental and spiritual endowments, will be freely devoted to Him who loved us, and gave Himself for us." {The Desire of Ages, page 65, paragraph 2}
What better time in earth's history, right before Jesus returns, to put our ALL into His service! Let us give our best offerings, all of our opportunities, and allow every aspect of our lives to be in union and communion with Him--and the inevitable result is we will be His witnesses to a world that needs to see "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27), for this is the final mystery that must be "finished" (Revelation 10:7) before we see Christ return in the clouds of heaven!! We can be among those who, by putting our entire focus on the coming of Christ and being ever in His presence like Enoch, will be "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat" (2 Peter 3:12). In other words, how you and I choose to use our time, talents and focus to be constantly with Jesus and to be His witnesses can actually help to hasten the time of His coming! Jesus is not waiting for another pandemic to hit the world or horrific disaster--no, He is longing, yearning and waiting for us to be among those who have appreciated what it means to be married to Him (see Jeremiah 3:14) and are described as how the Lamb's "wife hath made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7). Let us not waste even one moment--let us always be appreciating time as a treasure, and every talent and opportunity as of eternal significance for the revelation of Christ's character in and through our lives by the simple miracle that by beholding His loveliness, we become changed into His image from glory to glory (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).