They STILL didn’t get it! Do you?

Two pals are sitting in a pub watching the eleven-o’clock news. A report comes on about a man threatening to jump from the 20th floor of a downtown building. One friend turns to the other and says, “I’ll bet you ten bucks the guy doesn’t jump.”

“It’s a bet,” agrees his buddy.

A few minutes later, the man on the ledge jumps, so the loser hands his pal a $10 bill.

“I can’t take your money,” his friend admits, “I saw him jump earlier on the six-o’clock news.”

“Me, too,” says the other buddy, “but I didn’t think he’d do it again!”

There are times when we should be able to expect someone to “know better” or to have finally learned a lesson. The time the apostles spent with Jesus just prior to His ascension into heaven is one of those times.

During their three years of intimately following and learning from Jesus, they missed a lot of lessons at first. But now, they have seen their Master endure the cross and then overcome death. Still, they just aren’t getting it. Instead of inquiring about the kingdom of God, their minds return to a worldly, political setting as they ask Jesus if the time has come for Israel to be restored.

“So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?'” Acts 1:6.

The apostles still have their minds set on the things of this world, rather than the things of God. Jesus redirects them to what they should be focused on …

“He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere — in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth,'” Acts 1:7-8.

The future of Israel wasn’t unimportant, but there was something more important the apostles needed to be focused on, and that was building the kingdom of God rather than any earthly kingdom. It would take the coming of the Holy Spirit in their lives for them to finally “get it.”

The Apostle Paul echoes that same message when he writes, “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God,” Colossians 3:1-3.

Are you focused on being witnesses for Jesus? Or are you distracting yourself with political worries about earthly kingdoms?

Scotty