mindblowing.

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus (Luke 9:23-27)
And Jesus said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God."


At small group leaders' meeting last night (my first time going), my mind was blown by a totally new interpretation of that last verse. I always read it and was slightly confused, at first thinking it meant that some people who were with Jesus as He spoke would live until they saw heaven...which would mean living 2000+ years. Probably not the case. Or maybe Jesus was referring to His transfiguration on the mountain in front of three of His disciples, which happens right after this passage. Or maybe it was a reminder that we as believers don't truly die because Jesus is coming back and bringing with Him a new heaven and new earth.

What I had never thought of, however, was this: that some people who live on this earth will not realize the bitter and despairing taste of death until they see how glorious is the kingdom of God.
One of the guys compared it to his Kindle--if there were such a thing as a 3-d Kindle, he would want that instead of being satisfied with the Kindle he has now. Otherwise, he would blissfully continue living his life, satisfied with his normal Kindle. In the same way, so many of the lost around us just live without ever hearing the gospel message, and it's not until it's time for them to die that they realize how much they missed out on.

Blew my mind. Also reminded me of the urgency we should all have as believers to share the gospel with everyone we know. This is a matter of their eternal soul.



Man. I want to keep skipping MCAT Monday classes so I can come to this every week. Feel like I've been missing out!