do you ever get discouraged that the kingdom has not yet come on earth like it is in heaven? that the church, your community, and even yourself are good, but have not yet reached the fullness of God? me too. i yearn to pray more, have deeper community, and have my walk with Christ and the assembly of saints be more of a 24/7 kind of thing…
acts 2 (NIV):
42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common.
when i start getting down with thoughts like those above, i can be encouraged by the fact that i/we are getting there. the retreat that my cell took a few weeks ago was part of that journey. someone in cell said “do we ever go on retreat.” and i said, “no, but we should.” i don’t think any of us had a real clear idea about what the “agenda” should be, but a month later we were sleeping in tents out in the country near by mother’s house.
we spend the weekend living out the words in acts 2. it felt great, because it was great. we devoted ourselves to the teaching of the apostles (we had several in-depth meditations on the book of james), to singing songs of praise, and to the breaking of bread and prayer; for at least a weekend we had everything in common.
was it an amazing, life changing, mountain top experience? maybe for some, but not me. for me it was rest, healing, and communion. it was a little slice of heaven, the kingdom on earth becoming what i see it being like in heaven - devoting ourselves 24/day to right relation with God and right relation with my brothers and sisters. amazing. i can’t wait for eternity.
cp
ps. mom’s apple pie was also like a little slice of heaven.