When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:54-56)
Like Stephen, the more we speak of God and live for Him, the more upset people will be around us. The Gospel offends! It irritates. It upsets people who have no desire to seek after God.
Hoewever, we still seek Him and seek to know Him more deeply. We seek to be more like Him despite our failures. The more we pull away from this world, the more we desire to be with Him and won't mind going home, as Stephen did.
Sin is ugly. Its pull is deadly. But oh to see heaven! Just a glimpse makes the day bearable. Now if someone could possible see heaven . . . experience Jesus through us this day, imagine how different their world may be! Oh, they may reject us. They may ridicule us. They may even one day put us in jail and even kill is! But imagine the sight of seeing Jesus . . . .
We long for Jesus but live here. We seek His face but also seek the lost. To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). I am beginning to understand these words of Paul more and more day day!
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