30 November 2025 - a very particular set of skills

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

Noah was not motivated to prepare for the flood by his understanding of climate science. No, what he saw and understood of the world around him were the same as what those who were not preparing, but living life as usual, also saw and understood. The only difference was his faith in divine revelation. So too for Christians in our own day. We see the same world as others do but we understand it differently based on the perspective faith gives us. Divine revelation gives us an interpretive key to reality that is not available to the paradigm of empirical science. Even philosophy was not enough to suggest that Noah ought to build an ark. Nor can it tell us enough about our own eternal destinies to suggest how we ought to prepare. Philosophy can help us to eat and drink and marry virtuously, and therefore without regret. It can help make us the people with whom others won't object to sharing an ark. But it won't actually tell us to help with the building or to watch the skies for rain. It can help make us wise enough to listen when someone makes the case that we should enter the ark. But it won't automatically prevent us from being caught up in daily life in such a way that we don't give the prophets who call to us a fair hearing. There is often a certain amount of believing in the unlikely or apparently impossible that is asked of us when we are called to make an act of faith. Philosophy tends to resist extremes. But the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love, cannot be overdone. They can, it is true, be done in the wrong way. But when they are done in the right way there is no such thing as excess since God himself is their object.

They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man. 

The only warning we have about the impending judgment we will face at the end of our lives and that the world will face at the end of time is the one that we have because of our faith. A philosophical perspective might recognize that it is not contradicted but rather fulfilled in finding the world to after all be one in which justice is real. But it might stubbornly resist anything, even fulfillment, that is alien to its own way of understanding. It could not, of itself, discover how mercy and justice would be reconciled. It really could not have even made a guess of the direction and goal of history. And given that this perspective, apart from faith, is the best we've got, we need to recognize our need for the warning Jesus gives in today's Gospel reading.

They did not know until the flood came and carried them all away.
So will it be also at the coming of the Son of Man.
Two men will be out in the field;
one will be taken, and one will be left.

In the flood it was those not taken by the water and the waves who were the fortunate ones. It was those who were left, the divine remnant protected in the ark were those who were blessed. It was often thus in the history of Israel, when those taken into exile or lost in battle were not the ones to envy. It was those who remained, who enjoyed God's protection, that attained a desirable result. That's one of the reasons we can tell that this passage has nothing to do with the rapture or dispensionationalism. In this case we don't want to be among the taken. We want instead to be among those preserved in the ark that is the Church established by Jesus himself, the barque of Peter. 

The rains of the flood may not yet be falling in an obvious and visible way. But we nevertheless need to heed the command of Jesus to stay awake. We can't allow ourselves to be lulled by what seems normal to those around us. Whatever floods may come to us in our lives will require from us a response of vigorous faith. Therefore we must remain alert to what matters most. Those of us who are lukewarm or merely half awake are at risk. We might say, as Augustine did, "Oh Lord, give me chastity, but do not give it yet", assuming that we can get serious about are own conversion at some distant as yet undetermined future date. But it was precisely our reading today from Romans that caused Augustine to wake up and to stop delaying.

not in orgies and drunkenness,
not in promiscuity and lust,
not in rivalry and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

We too are called to have hearts that are ready to welcome the Lord Jesus Christ. Advent is a precious time in which grace is given to us to help us prepare. It is also a time in which it is very easy to be lulled into what the world considers normal by the business and commercial nature of the secular season. And so we must let the words of Jesus and not the world define us and our reality.

O house of Jacob, come,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!

DC Talk - In The Light

 

29 November 2025 - the King shall come

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life

When our hearts are drowsy they are slow and stupid. The heart is the center of who we are. With it we can engage questions and makes choices with regard to matters of utmost importance. It is the heart that in this way determines our destiny. Thus we can understand the danger of a drowsy heart as the spiritual version of being half asleep at the wheel. We may manage to avoid accidents by noticing things at the last minute and swerving. But it isn't a skill on which we want to rely. 

Physically, we get tired without enough sleep, or as a side effect of medication, and then ought to avoid driving or operating heavy machinery. But when it comes to the drowsiness of the heart, this is more than mere physical exhaustion. It comes about when we've allowed over-stimulation of the wrong kinds, including carousing, drunkenness, and the anxieties of daily life to use up our reserve of attentive spiritual awareness. Drunkenness is a problem in this sense not only because it can make us physically tired, but because it can numb us in a way that makes it hard for us to feel the importance of higher things. Our hearts become drowsy when we live as if this world is absolute, fearing the inevitable evils that the future will bring, and trying to draw as much pleasure and distraction as we can in the moment. Hearts like these have little use for going to meet Jesus when he comes to us in our daily lives and in the mass. Such celebrations will not rival the rancor and volume of secular parties. Hearts given over to fear about tomorrow, the next day, month, or year, will not have sufficient self-possession to give due thought permanent consequences and eternal destinies. The news cycle seems designed specifically to narrow our focus to the next potential disaster and prevent us from seeing the bigger picture from God's point of view.

For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.

The Lord will come whether or not we are ready. His coming can be for us a blessing or a curse depending on how we have responded to the grace he has given us to prepare for it. We want to be among those who remain spiritually vigilant, alert and awake enough to rise to meet the Son of Man at his coming, and to stand without shame in his presence. We are given both ample warnings and plentiful opportunities to practice for the final version of this, which will be at our death or at his coming in glory. We have the mass, the season of Advent, and the countless times he comes to us in the midst of our daily lives, all as opportunities to practice being ready to meet him. If we take opportunities such as these for granted it is unlikely that we will do better later unless we begin making changes now. If, however, we learn to welcome him each day, his coming at the end will not be a shock or unwelcome surprise. It will instead feel like the final version of something mysteriously familiar, like coming home.

Ike Ndolo - Awake, O Sleeper

 

28 November 2025 - when you see these things

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

When their buds burst open,
you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near;
in the same way, when you see these things happening,
know that the Kingdom of God is near.

The specific "these things" to which Jesus referred included signs in the skies and on earth, the roaring of the seas, and the shaking of the powers of heaven, to the degree that those on earth might die of fright in anticipation of what was to come. But facing these signs was not to make the disciples of Jesus fearful. Rather they were to stand erect and raise their heads, and demonstrate their dignity as followers of the king, and the security their trust in him allowed them to have, even in spite of apparent chaos on all sides. As the leaves of trees indicated that the time for them to bear fruit was near, so too did challenges in life and difficult circumstances indicate it was time for the disciples of Jesus to bear fruit. 

Summer implied judgment for those trees that did not bear fruit, like the fig cursed by Jesus. So too did the signs he predicted indicate coming judgment on those in Israel who refused to bear fruit befitting repentance (see Matthew 3:8). This was the judgment that did in fact take place in the lifetime of the generation of those who listened to Jesus. Yet we ought not smugly congratulate ourselves for not being among those who were then judged. Rather, we should look around us at all of the various ways our own world is shaking and imagine these things too are trees beginning to bud, portending the coming of summer, and of judgment. Are we doing our best to ignore these signs? Are we all but dying of fright? Or are we standing erect with our heads raised, meeting the challenges of our times by pursuing the fruits of the Spirit? 

Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.

We have an anchor amidst the changing vicissitudes of the world. If we cling to the earth below or even the heavens above (with all due respect to those hoping to colonize other distant worlds) we will eventually pass away together with those realities, which are all ultimately temporary. But if our trust is in the words of Jesus, if he is our anchor, and him our firm foundation, than there is no force in the universe that can take us from his hands.

Leeland - Way Maker

 

27 November 2025 - forgetting what lies behind

Today's Readings - For Thursday, not Thanksgiving
(Audio) 

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies,
know that its desolation is at hand.
Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Let those within the city escape from it,
and let those in the countryside not enter the city,
for these days are the time of punishment
when all the Scriptures are fulfilled.

What lesson can we learn from this text, which was specifically directed toward those who would face the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD? We hope our cities to be safe from such apocalyptic judgment, and even if this isn't so, Jesus does not provide a universal recipe for response. But there is nevertheless a spiritual lesson in his words that still applies. In order to do what he advised, the people could not be like the wife of Lot, and look back because of lingering attachment to what was left behind. They needed to do what Paul advised, "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead" (see Philippians 3:13). Rather than letting the chaos and destruction dominate their horizon they needed to do what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews advised, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith" (see Hebrews 12:2). It was important for them to remember that their "citizenship is in heaven" (see Philippians 3:20) rather than any earthly city. They were not to be like those who looked back once they set their hand to the plow (see Luke 9:62). Too much attachment to the things of this world, or too little affection for the things of the Kingdom, could cause delay enough that one risked being overtaken by the coming judgment, rather than successfully escaping to freedom in the place of rest prepared by God. This applied in a literal way to the people that faced the fall of Jerusalem. But it applies in a spiritual way to people in all times and places.

People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Those who have built their lives on the shifting sands of mortal life in this ever changing world have no recourse when everything begins to shake. There is nothing permanent here below to which they can cling. The only ones who can face such situations standing erect with raised heads are those who know that, no matter what happens here, no matter how bad things seem, their redemption is at hand. This is the posture of those who truly believe that nothing in "all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (see Romans 8:39). The same God who shut the mouth of the lion for Daniel and for Paul (see Second Timothy 4:17) can close the mouth of death itself and bring us safely to his eternal shore.

 

Elevation Worship - See A Victory

 

26 November 2025 - you are not to prepare your defense

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.

Jesus wanted his disciple to know in advance what it would cost to bear witness to his name and to share the testimony that he was the messiah. However, knowing this was not enough to give them sufficient courage to actually do so before the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the descent of his Holy Spirit. Even after the resurrection they still holed up behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. But after Pentecost they went to the streets and demonstrated and utter lack of concern for such threats. After Pentecost these words of Jesus about the difficulties they would face no longer described seemingly insurmountable challenges. When only heard humanly, such challenges seemed overwhelming. Rather, heard in the light of the Holy Spirit, the disciples were able to correctly count the cost and understand the difficulty of what they were being asked.  Heard spiritually they were able to understand that they would be able to rise to meet them with the help of grace. The same Spirit who helped them to listen to these words would also be present to help them speak their own words when necessary. 

We need these words of Jesus to help prepare us to give our own testimony when we are given the opportunity. When we operate at a merely human level we shrink, not only from prisons, king, and governors, but even from embarrassment and inconvenience. Without these words we may only be willing to share our testimony situations so idealized and optimal that they happen only rarely or never. But Jesus clearly envisioned that his disciples would share his Gospel even with those who would reject it. He wanted everyone to have the space of freedom to make their own response. It could not be clear to his disciples in advance that some of the greatest antagonists of the Gospel would go on to become some of the greatest advocates. It probably initially seemed that Stephen had wasted his effort and his many words of testimony to those who stoned him to death. But one who heard him, Paul, went on to become the greatest champion of Christian evangelization in history.

It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

It is not only in extreme situations, when our lives are on the line, that we need to rely on Jesus for wisdom in speaking. Preparing our defense beforehand in the way against which Jesus warned is a surefire way to make it stale, stagnant, static, and ineffective. People will hear defensiveness in our defense. They will recognize our lack of openness to the living presence to Jesus in the moment, as though we are sticking closely to a carefully prepared script. We will be as easy to dismiss as a flyer or a tract that could just has easily come from anyone and been about anything. We will, in short, sound like a sales pitch, designed to manipulate others while protecting ourselves. If we are instead open to the working of the Holy Spirit in the moment people will sense our vulnerability and sincerity and won't immediately put up their own defenses. We won't be stuck relying on trying to figure out what to say by guessing based on external clues. We will be guided by the one who knows the hearts of those to whom we speak.

You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

We're supposed to care more about the Kingdom of Jesus than our own lives. But we often seem to prefer, not just our lives, but our comfort and our other relationships to Jesus. In order to become good witnesses to him and to his resurrection we need to trust that he is able to keep us safe at the deepest levels of our being. Even death is, at worst, only a temporary setback when we are following him. If even death can lead to resurrection what is to stop Jesus from bringing good about any other sacrifices, large or small, that we make for him?

By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

Newsboys - Step Up To The Microphone

 

25 November 2025 - disaster planning

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Jesus said, "All that you see here–
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

The beauty of the temple was appropriate, since it was the place where God himself was preeminently present to his people. But the temple was not permanent. The Jewish people had to know this in some measure already, since this was in fact the second time the temple had been built. They clearly loved it, and enjoyed seeing the earthly footstool of the Most High as beautiful and well appointed. Yet there was still something inherently imperfect about such a structure and such beauty. It still existed within the fallen world as a sign of something greater. It was made with human hands and was therefore subject to corruption and decay. But it pointed to a higher reality not made with hands. The temptation was to so enshrine the tangible and temporary as to forget that it was not itself the ultimate reality. 

Jesus wanted to prepare people for the day when the role of the temple would be relegated to something of the past, and worship would henceforth take place anywhere in the world, in Spirit and truth. It would not do for nostalgia or misplaced loyalty to a building to prevent people from recognizing the greater temple that would replace it, the risen Body of the Lord Jesus. Similarly, we can't let the transitional and temporary nature of the often beautiful signs that we use cause us to lose focus on the reality to which we now have access. Beautiful churches are a wonderful blessing. But every mass, however humble, is a gateway to heaven itself, and to the true temple.

Then they asked him,
"Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?"

When a big change or possible disaster is imminent we want as many details about when and how as we can get. When we have such details we feel more in control, more able to plan for any eventuality. But for the radical transition from physical to spiritual temple there was no way to thus simplify things or mitigate the massive impact it would have. There were going to be signs of all kinds as the very world itself seemed to be shaken by the transformation that was coming. These were, in a way, like birth pangs. But the point was not so much that these signs might help one to prepare, but rather that they could cause one to be deceived, or become terrified, or otherwise incapacitated and unable to respond when necessary. 

"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'
Do not follow them!

Impending transformation makes us want answers so intensely that we sometimes become willing to accept charlatans whom we would otherwise know better than to trust. The knowledge of our own impermanence tempts us to be more moved by the fear of wars, insurrections, and natural disaster, than we ought. It often seems to us that such things have ultimate power over us and control of our destiny. Everything before the revelation of Jesus, seen in the wrong way and from an earthly perspective, can be a temptation for us to fall away. But if we commit ourselves to trusting his word we can avoid succumbing to deception or fear.

We can't plan our way into obedience in advance. But we can prepare ourselves to be obedient no matter what happens by resolving to trust in Jesus in all circumstances. We need not be shaken, since although all here below can be shaken, we await a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, and a temple that will never be destroyed.

Brian Doerksen - Resting Place

 

24 November 2025 - more than all the rest

Today's Reading
(Audio) 

He said, "I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."

Do we actually admire this widow who offered her whole livelihood? Or are we instead ready to see her as reckless, foolish, and imprudent, to make a donation, which compared to that of others, was negligible? No wonder some scholars try to explain this differently, as a condemnation of an exploitative system. Yet that explanation does not seem justified by the text, in which Jesus himself praised the offering of the poor widow. We ourselves are reluctant to give her the same credit because it seems to imply that we should also give away everything we possess in the way that she did. What then of our obligations to our families and to society? We begin by acknowledging that we are not in the same position as the widow. We have not only been entrusted with more wealth, but probably also more possibilities for putting that wealth to good use. The widow no doubt could have chosen to rely on those coins for a little longer, perhaps another few days. But it is not probable that they could have been essential in anything that would gain her long-term social or financial stability. It was clear that what she possessed was insufficient. So her decision to place her trust entirely in God was easily justified. Yet it was not a trivial choice. Many people in her position would have chosen to cling to whatever money they had, as though to life itself. It was clear that, although what she had done was objectively small, she had nevertheless done it with great love. She had been faithful in small matters and would be entrusted, by God if not by men, with much more.

Is this widow entirely unrelated to us and our quite different situations and circumstances? Or can she be an example for us after all? She can, because we too are called to entrust all that we have and all that we are to the Lord, if not typically in exactly the same way. We are wealthy people who are typically content to give to the Lord from our abundance. But we are seldom willing to give him anything, whether our time, talent, or treasure, in a way that requires us to trust in him. We will use our talents for the kingdom when we are confident of a good result. We will use or time for God as long as it is relatively convenient and comfortable. Seldom or never do we choose to rely in him in such a way that if he were not there we would fall flat on our faces. We justify this by saying that our two coins are not enough to make a real difference or have a lasting impact. But clearly, even if it doesn't change the world, the way we do or do not give ourselves to the Lord can change us in major ways. Doing little things with great love seems like a wonderful sentiment and a nice platitude. But when actually attempt it it turns out to be not so trivial after all. The little things we give might seem to us in that moment to be all that we have left. The question which we must then answer is whether they will be better in our hands or, as the widow decided, in the hands of God.

 Rita Springer - AMEN!

 

23 November 2025 - know this King

 

Today's Readings
(Audio)

The rulers sneered at Jesus and said,
"He saved others, let him save himself
if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God."

They admitted that he saved others. They knew that he was no ordinary man. His opponents had by then accused him of using the power of demons to cast out demons (see Matthew 12:24). They had even planned to have Lazarus killed again after they heard that Jesus raised him from the dead (see John 12:9-11). Yet, because of all of this, they couldn't just let him go quietly to his own death. They were frustrated. He saved others but he seemingly refused to save himself. They had the sense, and were correct, that he could have done so if he desired. He was instead acting with a perfect kingly composure and freedom. Precisely in order to save others he would not choose to save himself. Almost every other human act ever undertaken was motivated at least partially by selfishness. But this choice of Jesus was motivated entirely by love. Superficially, it seemed that Jesus was being forced to his death. But there was nothing coerced about his choice to remain in their power. It seemed, superficially, to be a part of their plan. But their own words expressed their dissatisfaction with their plan, as they gradually came to sense it was being used to facilitate a larger plan.

"If you are King of the Jews, save yourself."
Above him there was an inscription that read,
"This is the King of the Jews."

People simply couldn't tolerate a king who used his power and freedom for the sake of love. Power and the willingness to suffer for others seemed to be mutually exclusive. The purpose of power for most people was precisely to prevent the need for them to ever have to suffer. Thus they were infuriated and terrified when they saw the way Jesus used his own power. Looking at him on the cross they all seemed to be able to discern that he was still somehow in charge. But they were not all happy about it. It seemed as though their egos were terrified. Soldiers might have been able to reconcile dying during a struggle on the field of battle. But they could not accept the free surrender by which Jesus offered his life.

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying,
"Are you not the Christ?
Save yourself and us."

Most criminals eventually regretted the consequences of their choices. But they desired to be saved from those consequences without any regret for becoming the person they had, without any real desire to change. Such people often demand that Jesus change their circumstances, but not their hearts. They try to manipulate Jesus, knowing that he does desire to save others, in order to compel him to give them salvation as they define it. But it would have ultimately accomplished very little if Jesus had simply released this unrepentant criminal from the cross. It may, if anything, have provided time for him to become even worse, and to eventually meet a fate even worse than crucifixion.

"Have you no fear of God,
for you are subject to the same condemnation?
And indeed, we have been condemned justly,
for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes,
but this man has done nothing criminal."

We need to be sufficiently converted so that we can recognize that we can't demand anything of Jesus. Everything we seem to have in our favor, with which we might bargain, is actually already his gift. And we have all in some measure squandered that gift. We are all culpable to some extent. We are in no position to tell Jesus how he should save us. We lack any kind of expertise in the matter, as we have by now demonstrated. But, fantastically, our lack of deserving and our guilt, when acknowledged, free us to receive the salvation that Jesus himself does indeed desire to give.

Then he said,
"Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
He replied to him,
"Amen, I say to you,
today you will be with me in Paradise."

The unrepentant thief who told Jesus to save him implied a whole definition of salvation that was flawed and shortsighted. The repentant thief, by contrast, asked only that Jesus remember him. This statement was a profound act of surrender. It left anything beyond the remembrance securely in the hands of Jesus, trusting that, if he did remember him, anything else that should happen as a consequence of that would happen.

The cross is the place where Jesus, having been lifted up, draws us all to himself (see John 12:32). It was not a detour or delay before he began to reign as king. He was never revealed so profoundly to be king as when he reigned from the cross. The cross is a sign that we can't manipulate Jesus into doing things the way we think he should. But it is also a sign that his own plans are better than ours, since his love is both more fearsome and more free. We wouldn't dare to ask to be loved so much, partly because our egos know they won't survive it. But seeing him reign from the cross can move our hearts to trust him enough to surrender to what he thinks is best. When we do so we experience the reality of reconciliation and "peace by the blood of his cross". 

In Jesus, true kingship was never far removed from profound service, never separable from love. As Jesus restores our agency over our own lives, freeing us from addiction, sin, and the power of death, may we use our own power as kings and queens (see CCC 786) for the sake of others, and for spreading the Gospel of his salvation to the world.

Brenton Brown - Reign In Me

 

David Crowder Band - Here Is Our King

 

Newsboys - He Reigns

 

22 November 2025 - is resurrection absurd?

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.

They wanted to draw on what they viewed to be the implications of the possibility of the resurrection of the dead to reduce the idea to absurdity. A similar thing might be attempted today if someone tried to suggest that the earth wouldn't have sufficient space for all of the people who ever lived to live at once, and that, if it somehow would, it could hardly be a paradise with such crowded congestion. In other words, the temptation has always been to process the idea of the resurrection according to our temporary paradigms. 

The Sadducees probably thought they had a pretty reliable paradigm to employ since they drew upon the law of Moses. But Jesus explained that the law was given to be specifically relevant to the current age, not the coming one. It was specifically created for a world in which death was the dominant reality. Thus it would not be necessary in the age to come. But Jesus went further, since we might still have imagined an unfallen world like Eden in which there was no death, as with Adam and Eve who were continuously preserved in life by God himself, but in which there was nevertheless marriage. But Jesus said that in heaven, even marriage itself, which was not an accommodation to evil, but a genuine good, would cease.

"The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.

Marriage was instituted in part to populate the earth. But it was not how heaven was to be populated. Another reason it was necessary was to mitigate the effects of death and keep the human race alive on earth. But it would not have this part to play in heaven either. It was also given as a covenant sign of the relationship between God and man, between that of Jesus the bridegroom and his bride the Church. But in heaven even this sign would fade into the reality itself. People would no longer access God through the mediation of signs, but would, like angels, enjoy direct access to the vision of his face. Thus the world to come was not so much about whose natural children people happened to have been, but rather about the fact that they were the fully actualized children of God. There was a strong correlation in the Scriptures between beholding the vision of God and the reality of being among his daughters and sons.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (see First John 3:1-2).

-

That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called 'Lord'
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.

Once we hear God say it it begins to become obvious that he doesn't interpret things in the linear fashion in which one thing must follow another in the way that we necessarily do. He is present in all times and in all places. Trying to analyze him with our time-bound paradigms is always going to be an exercise in confusion and frustration. Somehow, without fully understanding, we can understand that being known by God in the way that God knew and now knows Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the definition of eternal life. His infinite capacity is such that all of the apparent contradictions in the world of time dissolve. What remains is he and his children, men and angels, worshiping around his throne, signing and dancing for joy in his presence forever and forever more.

David Ruis - We Will Dance

 

21 November 2025 - dedicated to worship

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

“It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves.”

The temple was meant to be a place of relationship, of encounter with the living God. It was meant to be a reflection of the openness of God's arms to his people. But it had become instead a reflection of the closedness of his people's hearts to him. Instead of being a place that elevated those who entered to a spiritual mode of being, it dragged them down to a base material one. If people had to choose between serving God and mammon, a dispassionate assessment would likely conclude that mammon had been chosen. The focus, the excitement, and the energy all seemed to be on monetary exchange, to the degree that the court of the Gentiles had no room to welcome anyone. Nor was that area a helpful spiritual gradation in which people could easily prepare themselves for to meet God. It was instead loud and transactional. 

 We probably know how different the experience can be between entering a quiet, pious church versus a noisy one filled with socialization. Even if there is something appealing seeing a lot of friendly people conversing, it is not necessarily conducive preparing to do what we came to do. This is especially the case since the hearts we bring with us, whether to a church that is quiet or one that is loud, are themselves not easy to silence. There is no readily accessible volume dial that can do it automatically. So without availing ourselves of every possible advantage it can be difficult not to bring our own base concerns, even our own idols, with us into worship. 

Jesus did not sell short the importance of environment in preparing for worship. But he knew that environment alone was insufficient if the hearts of the people who entered were not also open and attuned. But he also knew that human hearts, even more than the temple, needed cleansing and purification to achieve this state. Our hearts were meant to be temples of his presence, but our default condition was one with no vacancy for his coming to dwell in us. Hence, in him, the old would need to be torn down, by his crucifixion. Then and only then could the new arise in the resurrection, as he joined us to himself as living stones in the temple of his Body. The problems in the old physical temple were merely symptomatic. But in his Passion he treated the root cause. Thereafter the temple itself was no longer necessary, since the sign it was meant to be had given way to the reality. People were now free and empowered to worship anywhere, in Spirit and truth. Even the joyous celebration of Judas and his brothers in First Maccabees was only a dim foreshadowing of the joy meant to be ours in the Church established by Jesus, of which he himself is head and cornerstone.

 

John Michael Talbot - Exodus 15

 

20 November 2025 - the things that make for peace

Today's Readings
(Audio)

As Jesus drew near Jerusalem,
he saw the city and wept over it

We can't assume that our cities fare better when Jesus draws near to visit us. It may be the case that there are some in our cities who understand the mysteries of the Kingdom. But many, perhaps most, have let their hearts be hardened and their eyes made blind, so that, although they look, they do not see. The fact that Jesus had advocates and supporters within Jerusalem was not enough to shift the overall balance of the city. Many rejected him entirely. Others supported him when it seemed like his was a popular movement, when it was in vogue to do so, but turned on him the moment he was relegated from the spotlight. So too in our own cities, and, if we are honest, in our hearts. We like to claim that we will stick with Jesus during good times and bad. Like Peter we may boast that we are willing to die with him (see Matthew 26:35). But this boast often proves to be naive. It typically has more to do with how we want to see ourselves than our actual level of commitment to the Lord.

If this day you only knew what makes for peace–
but now it is hidden from your eyes. 

In recent years we've definitively demonstrated that we don't know what makes for peace. If we did, we would live in peace among the peaceful. Though we may be shielded from outright violence by the protection of our governments it is clear that we are not at all free from antagonistic relationships with those around us. We have a list of demands that seem to us to be necessary for peace. Our opponents have their own list of demands. But all of these miss the point by trying to solve spiritual problems politically. Peace on earth was promised by Gabriel to those of good will. But a will that is truly good is one that can recognize the Prince of Peace and surrender to him. People with a good will recognize the time of their visitation and plead with Jesus to change, not only their enemies, but also themselves. They plead for him to increase their faith, and so too their faithfulness, their willingness to be among those who stand by Jesus in his time of trial (see Luke 22:28).

Jesus came "that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear" (see Luke 1:74). But he did not proceed to provide this freedom and the way anyone expected. It was a hidden grace that was given at the level of individual hearts rather than a violent force imposed from without on society. He continues to bring such grace into a world, but we fail to notice because we're still looking for something else. But it is not too late. Our cities still stand. Our country is still by most standards a place of freedom to live and to worship. But if Jerusalem was at risk in spite of the physical presence of Jesus there, neither should we take it for granted in our own day. We should look to the presence of the one who alone can truly deliver on the promise of peace. After all, we can see that he cares more about it than even we ourselves, and that he weeps for us, just as he did for Jerusalem.

Michael W. Smith - You Are Holy (Prince Of Peace)

 

19 November 2025 - faithful in small things

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

he proceeded to tell a parable because he was near Jerusalem
and they thought that the Kingdom of God
would appear there immediately.

It was widely believed that once the messiah appeared the Kingdom of God would follow almost immediately. Many modern commentators seem to believe that even early Christians were surprised by the delay in the full realization of the Kingdom on earth. Whether they were or not we will not speculate. Yet if they were, they need not have been, since Jesus himself told a parable precisely to explain it. There would be time after his coming when he was visible absent, before his return, and the final establishing of the Kingdom. He explained with what his disciples would need to contend during this time since there would be those who would say that they did not "want this man to be our king", and who would do whatever they could to harass and interfere with the followers of his who remained during his absence.

A nobleman went off to a distant country
to obtain the kingship for himself and then to return.
He called ten of his servants and gave them ten gold coins
and told them, 'Engage in trade with these until I return.

Jesus brought his risen human nature into heaven, there to share the throne of kingship that was properly God's own. He planned to return to bring the full blessings of that kingship to the world through the resurrection on the last day. But he did not plan to do this immediately. In order to allow a full and free response to his plan he gave his disciples time to put the gifts he gave them to use, good or otherwise. By doing so they could open up their capacity to participate in his Kingdom when it arrived. What mattered to Jesus was not that they prove themselves by cleverness, skill, or success. Rather, he was looking for them to demonstrate faithfulness. The reward of cities was entirely disproportionate to the small level of faithfulness that was required of them. But it was precisely this faithfulness, and not the results, on which they were judged. Everyone who even chose to participate received a reward that ridiculously exceeded their efforts. True, the one who made ten additional coins seemed to receive a larger result, as though his effort was involved. But it is more likely the case that he was able to produce such results because he was more willing to trust in the master's gifts, which functioned almost automatically. He had perhaps opened himself more completely to trust in the master and thus had a larger capacity to receive the master's blessing when he returned.

'Sir, here is your gold coin;
I kept it stored away in a handkerchief,
for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding man;
you take up what you did not lay down
and you harvest what you did not plant.'

The man that returned the master's gold coin with nothing to show for it was punished, not because he failed, but because he was faithless. The master had said "Engage in trade" and he had instead hidden the gift away, where it was powerless to bear fruit. This is a common temptation for us as well. It feels safe, in the moment, to hide our gifts and not take the risk of obeying the command of Jesus. But it is only when we trust him enough to put them to use that they can bear fruit. And it is only by opening ourselves in trust to his will that we grow in our capacity to receive the reward he wants to give us. This reward is not cities so much as it is more of himself. 

He replied, 'I tell you,
to everyone who has, more will be given,
but from the one who has not,
even what he has will be taken away.

Our stewardship during our mortal lives is a feed forward mechanism in which the more we participate the more we grow. But unwillingness to participate makes it increasingly hard to begin. We should remember our trust in the master who has given us the command to engage in trade and therefore also trust in the power of the coin of the Spirit with which he has entrusted us. And we should remember that he does not necessarily expect great things, but rather faithfulness in the little things, like Terese of Lisieux and Theresa of Calcutta were fond of repeating.

Newsboys - Go

 

18 November 2025 - receiving him with joy

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,
who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, 
was seeking to see who Jesus was;
but he could not see him because of the crowd,
for he was short in stature. 

Neither our natural gifts nor the circumstances of our lives are enough to automatically ensure that we will get a good look at Jesus when he passes through. We may be fairly sure that if Zacchaeus had responded with indifference the whole crowd with all of its commotion would have passed him by as though he were not there. It seemed evident that Jesus was aware of his desire to see him and responded to that desire.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,
who was about to pass that way.

Jesus looked up at the tree, unsurprised, as though it was always his plan to meet Zacchaeus at this moment in this place. Because it was. He wasn't inconvenienced or deterred from other aspects of his ministry by the intrusion of this chief tax collector onto his route. It was always a part of his plan, and in this moment, the main event. In fact, it seemed that Jesus was the first one to say something to Zacchaeus, rather than the other way around. Who knows with what pretense Zacchaeus might have been planning to plead with Jesus, as the prodigal had been in returning to his father. But before he had a chance to do so he heard, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house". 

And he came down quickly and received him with joy. 

At first Zacchaeus must have thought that he was the one taking the initiative to see Jesus. We already said that without that initiative it was indeed likely that Jesus would have passed him by. But Jesus himself was aware of the initiative Zacchaeus would show, because he himself was the one who made the hearts of all, including Zacchaeus, and placed a desire for himself within them. Even the grace that made him respond to this desire was a gift. It wasn't as though he could brag about the lengths to which he went in order to see Jesus, since he knew full well that he had been drawn to him, as if by a kind of spiritual magnetism. There were also those who felt this same spiritual force but found it repulsive. These were the people who grumbled when they saw the deep and immediate connection between Zacchaeus and Jesus while they themselves remained disinterested on the peripheries. They remained dispassionate observers while Zacchaeus himself was entirely transformed.

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,
“Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,
and if I have extorted anything from anyone
I shall repay it four times over.”

Zacchaeus was changed in such a way that he previously priorities were no longer important. The desire for wealth that had determined his life path until that point was gone. The wealth he had amassed was now a resource to help him respond to the grace of Jesus in his life. We note that he had not been required to do this in advance in order to prove himself to Jesus. All that was necessary for Jesus to accept him was for Zacchaeus to respond to the desire that Jesus himself had first placed in his heart. These works did not somehow merit his salvation, but were rather its fruit. But they were important as evidence, signs that the power of Jesus had been effective in him.

And Jesus said to him,
“Today salvation has come to this house
because this man too is a descendant of Abraham. 
For the Son of Man has come to seek
and to save what was lost.”

Like Zacchaeus, and indeed, like all people, Jesus has placed a desire for himself in our hearts. But we can take it for granted, like the crowds, and respond to him only with curiosity. Like them we might be too embarrassed to stand out or refuse to be inconvenienced in the ways that might be necessary. But if we don't respond vigorously to the fervor Jesus himself wants to give us we inherently limit the extent to which he can transform us. We have some measure of 'free will', but especially a 'free won't', one which we must be cautious to not exercise when Jesus is passing by.

When I lie down in sleep,
I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
I fear not the myriads of people
arrayed against me on every side.

Songs In His Presence - Prayer Of Augustine

 

17 November 2025 - a see change

 

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by."
He shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"

This blind beggar nevertheless had a spiritual vision that caused him to realize something that was not apparent to everyone in the crowd. The crowd pointed to his apparent origins in Nazareth. But the blind man called to him as the messianic Son of David. The crowd assumed that Jesus had better things to do. But Jesus came to give sight to the blind. The blind man, sensing this, refused to be silenced by the crowd. In fact, the more they tried to quiet him the louder he became. The voice of the crowd was trying to exert an influence over the man that may be familiar to us as well. It told him that Jesus was distant, irrelevant, and indifferent. It attempted to drown out the quiet possibility of hope. If the man had only been testing a theory he probably would have given up. But he had faith. He could already imagine the way that Jesus would change his world and he refused to surrender that image.

"What do you want me to do for you?"
He replied, "Lord, please let me see."
Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you."

His faith was what allowed Jesus bring what he imagined into reality. His spiritual vision would henceforth be reflected in the physical world as well. His blindness must been a true hardship. He no doubt wanted to experience the fullness of natural life as God intended it. But his spiritual insight and his faith made it seem likely that he was asking for something deeper along with his natural sight. We may also imagine that he was asking for the purity that allowed those who possessed it to see God, as Jesus taught in the beatitudes (see Matthew 5:8). This was the vision that can eventually make us like God when, at last, he see him as he is (see First John 3:2).

He immediately received his sight
and followed him, giving glory to God.

We who have been blessed with natural sight ought to remember to be thankful for that gift, since it is easy to take for granted, not having had to survive without it. But we should also come to Jesus and ask with faith for him to increase our spiritual vision, our ability to see him in a way that makes us become more like him. When our spiritual vision is healthy we are able to perceive the truth in spite of the indifference of the crowds, or even, as in the book of Maccabees, their active hostility. There are a thousand different directions and angles from which attempts to obscure the truth seem to come these days. Our physical vision sometimes seem to only make us enter more deeply into the confusion. Without spiritual sight we will almost certainly be lost. Lord, please let us see.

Sonicflood - In The Secret 

16 November 2025 - there will not be left a stone upon another

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said, "All that you see here--
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down."

If we become too attached to the beauty of this world, a beauty which, while good, is still nevertheless only temporary, how will we respond when it eventually crumbles to dust and fades to nothing? Buildings may collapse, human institutions might fail, and even the apparent permanence of nature will eventually be revealed to be transient. If we place our eternal hope in temporary things we will be at extreme risk when those things inevitably eventually fail. Experiences like these make us all too ready to be deceived by false messiahs and their false promises. We will hear implausible candidates claiming "I am he", and we will want to follow them and believe them even though a part of us may know better. They seem to offer something immediate in which we can invest our hopes in lieu of the disappoint of whatever recent collapse brought us to despair. As our boat through this world of time spring leaks and to sink we become willing to turn to anyone who promises to patch us up, whether or not there is any real reason to think they can do so. 

When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end."

We need a different strategy. In the face of terrors we must not be terrified (see Jeremiah 1:17). We must instead remember that such things are allowed in the divine plan. We must also remember that it is the divine drama unfolding that will dictate our destiny, not the fickle vicissitudes of chance and circumstance. If we believe that our story is fundamentally natural or political than circumstances might well seem to indicate the end of the world. But we are living for another world, a world without end. When we remember this we are able to keep our cool, not only when things around us are bad, but even when we ourselves are impacted by negative circumstances. We can face persecution without being rendered useless and ineffective by fear. In fact, in some way, when we remember whose story it is of which we are meant to be part, we become even more effective in times of trial, since such times lead to us "giving testimony".

Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.

We don't need to calculate exactly what will lead to our giving testimony in order to be able to successfully do so when the time comes. Obviously we should strive to know Jesus and his teaching. But we need not predict exactly how circumstances will require us to speak. And in fact, the more rigidly we plan in advance, the less the Spirit will be free to move in the moment. It's is good to have the raw materials of knowledge handy, good to have familiarity with the Scriptures and the teachings of the Church, but precisely so that the Spirit himself can more easily call them to our minds in the moment they are needed. He can go further, when he desires, by giving us words of knowledge and words of wisdom that transcend anything we previously knew or could articulate. We should definitely try to be open to these. But we may also say that we shouldn't rely on them entirely. 

You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.

There will be many reasons we will want to give up along the way. Many things that were seemingly causes for hope will fail. It won't always be smooth sailing. We will long to see the Lord move in history, but instead see many imposters and false messiahs pretending to bring salvation, while only making things worse. But when our lives are situated in the worldview taught by Jesus we will not despair and we will not give up. We will then remember that he commanded "perseverance", rather than any kind of one time set it and forget it spirituality. It is clear he didn't promise to spare us from every storm we might encounter. But he did promise to be with us always, even in the storms. When we remember to listen, we will even then hear his still small voice speaking, giving us the guidance we need.

 The Dwelling Of God Is Among You

 

15 November 2025 - motivated prayer

 

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 

The temptation, of course, was to become weary and lose heart. When prayer did not receive an instant response it was tempting to assume that one was speaking to an unjust judge, too concerned with his own affairs to answer to be bothered, although it was well within his power to set things right. It was hard to pray for things that were obviously good and not receive them. It made it easy to believe that God was morally ambiguous at best and not truly good at worst. It made it easy to fall for the same temptation as Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God, knowing good and evil independently, apart from him. 

He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 

Phase one of a good approach to not losing heart is to recognize when we begin to imagine a caricature of God rather than God himself. We know that God must be good since he is the source of all goodness and since he himself is what we ultimately desire in all good things. Our very ability to sense and pursue the good is itself his gift. Therefore, if he does not immediately respond to our urgent requests it cannot be because he isn't good.

For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, 
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’” 

Phase two of our plan to not lose heart is to plan on the need for persistence. When we sometimes hear of prayers that are answered immediately, precisely when they were needed, it makes us want to believe that all prayers will be answered on a similarly expedited schedule. Sometimes prayers are answered immediately, when this is part of God's plan. But oftentimes, for his own reasons, reasons which we have resolved to believe are good ones, he does not answer immediately. When we don't plan on an immediate response he is certainly free to surprise us with one. But then if we don't receive one we don't succumb to disappoint. We have planned from the first to pray as long as was necessary to either attain or desire or to have our heart changed by God. It has often been said that this purification and expansion of our desire for the good is an important part of why perseverance in prayer is required of us. Does it always seem to us to be a worthy trade for putting off a solution to something that could be solved immediately, something which is often both urgent and dire? Perhaps not, but since we have committed ourselves to believing that God is always good even when can't see it or understand, we believe it in this case as well. And so we don't lose heart. And so we ask and keep on asking. 

The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night? 
Will he be slow to answer them? 
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. 

We now have belief in God's goodness and reason enough to trust him when he tells us to not give up on prayer. But we have still more. We have assurance that he will answer eventually. It may not be exactly according to the form for which we asked. But we know that he is a Father who delights to give good gifts to his children. We know that he will withhold nothing from us that is truly good. He knows even better than we ourselves what will truly satisfy our desires. This is what he has planned for those who do not give up on pursuing him. 

Matt Maher - Wait

 

14 November 2025 - not delugeonal

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

As it was in the days of Noah,
so it will be in the days of the Son of Man;
they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage up to the day
that Noah entered the ark,
and the flood came and destroyed them all.

In past times the world seemed to be going on as it always had. People were more or less hypnotized by the routine of daily life, unable to recognize the signs, or to heed the warnings of impending judgment. Those who had sufficient faith to respond to the call of God seemed to others to be at least eccentric and possibly crazy. If one was not regularly in conversation with God, the construction of an ark didn't seem particularly useful before the rain began to fall. Noah's faith allowed him to do what would later be proven to be necessary before it was obviously so. It gave him the courage to stand out and endure ridicule for the sake of obedience. 

they were eating, drinking, buying,
selling, planting, building;
on the day when Lot left Sodom

Once we begin to believe and obey the word of God we must still be cautious about the temptation to look back to what we left behind. This was a problem for those who wandered in the desert after being liberated from Egypt. It was a problem for Lot's wife. It was the reason why Jesus said that those who looked back after putting their hand to plow were unfit for the Kingdom (see Luke 9:62). It wasn't that he didn't want them. The issue in all of these cases was that they were compromised by a kind of gravity that pulled them toward the earthly and away from the spiritual. They had tasted freedom, but looking back caused them not to pursue with the vigor that was necessary to reach salvation.

On that day, someone who is on the housetop
and whose belongings are in the house
must not go down to get them,
and likewise one in the field
must not return to what was left behind.

We need to reverse the perspective we typically have in which the things of this world are those that are urgent, and the spiritual are secondary. We must be willing to make a break with any temporary material goods if God's call demands it of us. We must be willing, at least virtually, to leave behind all we have to respond to his summons. 

I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left.

We may look almost identical, from an external perspective, to others in the world. But our destiny is not necessarily the same as theirs. If we don't insist on clinging to our current conditions exactly as we now experience them we will be free to receive the salvific work of God in our lives. Whether he desires to keep us here where we are, saving us from exile, or whether he desires to move us to a place of refuge from impending strife, we can have the freedom to follow him. It will help if we make a spiritual resolution, aided by grace, empowered by the Spirit, never to choose anything instead of his will. Though we are fallen and fickle and liable to disobedience he will nevertheless help us to keep such a noble commitment, since it is he himself who inspired us to make it. We must not be like those described in the reading from Wisdom who lost themselves in the beauty of created things. We should instead rejoice in that beauty as a revelation of the one who created it all.

For from the greatness and the beauty of created things
their original author, by analogy, is seen.

13 November 2025 - the tension between already and not yet

Today's Readings
(Audio) 

"The coming of the Kingdom of God cannot be observed,
and no one will announce, 'Look, here it is,' or, 'There it is.'
For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you."

The Kingdom of God was already present among them in one way, but not yet in another. It was present because the King himself was among them. It was yet to come because its fullness would only be revealed after the Son of Man was first taken from them and then returned in glory. Their question of the Pharisees seemed to be motivated by a desire to see some Kingdom scale results produced by Jesus and his disciples. They wanted to see something that they could either dismiss, or, if it was overwhelmingly obvious, that they would have no choice but to accept. But they were currently at a stage of history when the Kingdom still worked in a hidden way, behind the scenes, like a mustard seed, or like yeast that leavened the dough. They were not to judge the mission of Jesus based on results, but rather, on the person of Jesus himself. In some way, Jesus himself was the Kingdom. And this Kingdom was indeed already spreading, since it was present in every heart where Jesus reigned. Obviously the Pharisees, interested in externals, in things that they could control or dismiss according to preference, were not well situated to perceive it. They probably saw themselves as too wise or practical to be fooled by what they might have dismissed as mere rhetoric. And yet the King of the Kingdom was in their midst. It was possible for sincere hearts to perceive it and be transformed. But those who were not sincere seemed to bounce off of their encounters with it, accelerated away in the opposite direction.

Then he said to his disciples,
"The days will come when you will long to see
one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.

The longing to see something solid, some definitive results, would potentially put everyone at risk of accepting something that fell short of the Son of Man and his Kingdom. They would want to see him so much that they would convince themselves that they had in fact seen him. They would long for the coming of his Kingdom so much that they would convince themselves that they had found it fully formed on earth in this or that ideology. They would treat political or religious leaders as though their themselves were the ones who could bring salvation to the world. They might not be fully conscious of it, but their preference for something solid and visible would ultimately make them naive and vulnerable. During this period of history it was important for disciples to remember that the Kingdom was present, but hidden. It made a real impact on history, but from behind the scenes, in a way that required faith to perceive. It was not subjective. It was real enough that an unbiased observer could be convinced. But its presence was not such as to be irrefutable, and wasn't meant to be. The proud in particular would see something far too humble to meet their standards. But if we set our expectations correctly, knowing that the Spirit is at work now, but the fullness of glory is yet to come, we will not be deceived.

For just as lightning flashes
and lights up the sky from one side to the other,
so will the Son of Man be in his day.

The fact that the Kingdom is now somewhat hidden does not mean that it is subjective, or that it will remain obscure forever. There is nothing hidden that will not one day be revealed (see Luke 8:17). Foremost on this list is the Kingdom itself, and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This stage of history is meant to give us time to prepare for the final stage. Once his glory is fully revealed their will be no more time to freely turn to him in our hearts. His glory will be irresistible. But he wants us to choose him freely, here and now. And not only that, he wants us to freely share with others what we ourselves have first received (see Matthew 10:8).

Elevation Worship - There Is A King