Heaven without Jesus?

How many of us wish we could actually be with God each day? How many of us would like to be with Jesus each day? We all try to have quiet times to do just that, but I wonder how many of us would have a sense that we really met with God in those moments we spend during a "quiet time". I have had that sense before, but it is hardly every day when I sit down for those moments.

It has me curious as to whether there are other significant ways to meet with Jesus each day. The easy answer is "yes", but the more difficult answers are to the question of, "How then?" What are those OTHER ways I can truly be with Jesus; a way that I can sense his love, person, and heart?

The first prerequisite question is, "Is Jesus himself the gift I am looking for?" What I am I hoping for when I come to meet with Jesus? Is it simply Jesus I desire, or is it his answer to my questions? Is it his provision for my needs? Is the gift I seek his heart salve for the places I hurt, or is it simply JESUS I crave? If I got to heaven, with all the great things like no more suffering, no more weeping, total healing, eternal reconnection with all the loved ones I could imagine, but Jesus was not there, would my heart break? Would I still want heaven? Is Jesus what I desire each day when I come to meet with him, or am I really looking for some byproduct of the relationship with him?

So assuming I want to be with Jesus, what ways can I do that?

Well I know Jesus told us, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me." He told us that when we serve other people, we were doing those things for him. In order to do something for someone, it is to say that person is there. It is to say that when I listen to someone, serve someone, help someone, Jesus is there. I meet him there.

When we serve, we are given the greatest gift possible at that exact moment. We are given Jesus. He is there. He is present. We can be with Jesus, and if THAT is my greatest gift, I would serve more people.

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READING: "The Great Good Place" by Ray Oldenburg

Revert to Foolishness

A story about Francis of Assisi goes like this:
Two men came to him with interest in joining his order. So Francis brought them both out to the garden and asked them to help prepare the garden for the friars' meals. He asked that the two men plant and work the garden as he did. He then planted a few cabbages upside down with the roots up and leaves down. One of the men went about his work reflecting Francis' odd styling. The other was critical at first before simply becoming resentful. "This simply is not the way you do this." He refused to imitate Francis' planting methods because they were foolish and a waste of time.

Francis said to him, "Brother, I see that you are a great master. Go your way! For a simple and humble Order does not need such masters, but rather simple and foolish persons."

This makes me think of a few people who were foolish and nearly mad in comparison to those who determine what should be 'normal' and 'acceptable'. I think of names like Francis of Assisi. Then I think of people like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. But I, of course, think of Jesus.

Jesus continually lived in ways seen as blasphemous, looney, and impure to everyone else. Jesus would do something which may be the most foolish and crazy thing ever. He dies a horrific death that would 'save' countless people from sin and disconnection from his Father God. That is crazy!!!!

But Paul also reminds us that faith in Jesus will be foolishness to the Greeks and those without the Spirit.

I think of Jesus reminding us in Matthew 18 that unless we embrace some level of foolishness, Heaven will be filed with five-year-olds.

In Matthew 11, he thanks God for hiding things from the master know-it-alls and revealing himself to the little and foolish children.

I want to know how to see God's true wisdom. I want to really experience the love, grace, and reality of God. But I have to come with a level of foolishness I am rarely willing to revert to.

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LISTENING TO: "Mean Everything to Nothing" by Manchester Orchestra