You may be taken aback by the title of this Heart Thoughts, but
those are not my words, they're His. He said them to Mary in John 20:17, "Stop
clinging to Me." Likely, you, like me, are puzzled by those words, and why the
Lord would speak them to one who was so obviously overjoyed to "see" Him, and
desired to worship Him. Why would He command her to stop clinging to HIm? He
tells her that He needs to ascend to the Father, and we take that as the reason,
but do we see anything deeper in this, or is this just one more passage that we
read, "believe" and move on without ever allowing the Spirit to take us deeper
into it?
Mary deeply desired to cling to the Lord, but what was her
central desire in the clinging? A wise friend shed, through the Spirit, light
on that for me some months ago. In her clinging, Mary wished to keep Jesus
where He was, and where she was most familiar with Him, where she was most
comfortable. In a manner of speaking, she wanted to keep Jesus "down here," but
the Lord, in His declaration of needing to ascend to His Father was in effect,
calling her to join Him in that ascending. There was a wonderful and infinite
aspect of His personality that was yet to be revealed to her, and she was not
going to realize or enter into that by seeking to keep Him where He had been
with her, and what she knew of HIm to that point. He was entering into the
fullness of His resurrected life and He was calling her to come into that life
with Him. It was a call that would be fully given at Pentecost. It's a call
that issues forth to you and I day by day, even moment by moment.
We're
attracted to the things that make us feel comfortable, including those things
we know of Him. To live the ascending life, will mean that we are constantly
called out of our comfort zones, our places of familiarity, to discover new, and
yes, at times, frightening things about Him and the fullness of life in Him.
Frightening to our flesh, but blessedness to our spirits. Mary wished for
things to stay as they had been, Jesus had something far better in store, but
she had to release her grip on what had been so that Christ could take her to
what could be, what must be. He doesn't behave any differently with you and me,
and when we seek to cling to Him in such a way, He will always command us to
release Him so that He can take us ever higher in His resurrected life.
There may be no place where we see this kind of clinging to Jesus moreso than in
our prayer lives. When we cling to Him in such a way as to keep Him in a place
where we're most comfortable, than so much of our prayer life is dedicated to
keeping things just that way. Keep us on the mountaintops and in the green
meadows. Don't ever lead us through the valley of death, at least not until our
time here has ended, and we don't wish for it to end any time soon. To know if
our prayer life is of this sort, T. Austin-Sparks asks, "Are those things I pray
for mainly going to benefit me, make my life easier, more enjoyable, and
ultimately bring glory to me, or will they only glorify Him, even at my
expense?" Short term, it would cost Mary to release Him, but in His glory, He
would accomplish her ultimate good. Can we make such a release in our prayers,
in our living, in our ministry? Can we stop clinging to Jesus, and instead,
ascend with Him, to the higher place, the place where He is, and where we must
be as well? Will we continue to cling, and know limited life, or will we
release Him, and discover what abundant life is truly all
about?
Blessings,
Pastor O
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