OK, I admit it. I am a Geek. I am a Geek about two things: the Bible and NASA. If I wasn’t a Geek about the Bible, you wouldn’t be reading this Midweek Minute right now. And if I wasn’t a Geek about NASA, I wouldn’t have been as mesmerized as I was about the Apollo 11 lunar landing. I wanted to be an astronaut then, and I’d go up today if they let me!
This past Saturday, July 20, 2019, we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the first human to set foot on soil not of this planet – the moon. I remember when it happened. I was 14 years old that summer. My mother was chaperoning a group of high school students on a trip to Europe, my dad was working, my oldest brother was married, and my other brother was in and out of the house at will. It was just me and my cocker spaniel (Taffy) glued to the TV set for a solid week and a half. The moon shot had me MESMERIZED!
This past Saturday, I entertained two of our grandkids by disassembling and reassembling a 2-1/2 foot tall model of the Saturn-Apollo 11 rocket that I made from a kit when I was 14 (yes, I still have a model I put together 50 years ago – I told you I am a Geek! Did you not understand that?) I explained to them each phase of the Apollo 11 mission. They were “politely mesmerized.”
On that day 50 years ago, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, it wasn’t just me that was mesmerized. The ENTIRE WORLD was MESMERIZED. It has been documented that during those few hours, as the event was broadcast LIVE around the world that there were hardly any home burglaries, hardly any murders, hardly any robberies, hardly any muggings, hardly any crimes occurring anywhere around the world, as the WORLD WATCHED history being made with rapt fascination.
2,000 years prior to the lunar landing, another group of people were held in rapt fascination. They were mesmerized with the teaching of Jesus. Even the Pharisees couldn’t touch Jesus because of the way masses of people were MESMERIZED by the SON of GOD.
(47)After that, Jesus taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill Him. (48)But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word He said (Luke 19:47-48).
I love the last line of that passage. “…all the people hung on every word He said.” As I sit here reflecting back on the lunar landing, I am forced to ask myself, am I MESMERIZED BY JESUS? Do I hang on to every word He says? Would I be glued to the television for a week and a half if He were presenting His message on TV? Do I give Jesus the same rapt attention that I gave all the NASA space flights?
I must confess to you that I’m not always Mesmerized by Jesus, by my Savior. When living my day-to-day life in Christ, I realize that I often take my relationship with Jesus for granted. Like it’s on auto-pilot. And you know what?… that’s just unacceptable!
I WANT TO BE Mesmerized by Jesus! I want to be held in rapt attention by every word He says. I want to live in AWE of His love for me!
Remember when you were first in love with someone? Everything you thought, you did, and you said revolved around your obsession for wanting and needing to be in a relationship with the one you loved. We need to rekindle that LOVE FOR JESUS each and every day! We need to get to KNOW HIM inside and out. We need to be MESMERIZED WITH JESUS every day, and pursue Him with every fiber of our being!
Without Jesus we are nothing and have no where to go. With Jesus, He is our something and desires to bring us home. My prayer is that I, and all of us, reignite our passion for Jesus Christ on a moment-to-moment basis, because Jesus is simply OUT OF THIS WORLD!
God bless you all, and we hope to see you Sunday!
— Pastor David McCall
