“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Matthew 13:16-17 ESV

Remember that old saying, ‘familiarity breed contempt?’ As much as it shouldn’t apply to us in regards to our walk with Christ, it almost seems like we allow that unfortunate attitude to take root in our hearts. I love spending time hiking in the mountains, but living in central Kentucky, in the Ohio river valley, there aren’t many mountains to be found. My sister, her husband and their daughters recently moved to Denver, Colorado and are confronted with the majesty of the Rocky Mountains on a daily basis. And while they have been to see the Rockies before this, their move from North Carolina to Colorado still provided an opportunity to experience awe and wonder again at their surroundings when they moved there. It was like seeing it with fresh eyes.

But over time, the Rockies on your doorstep just become part of the landscape, and while you might be occasionally struck with a moment of beauty and an appreciation of their grandeur, they will eventually just become the Rockies on their doorstep if they don’t acknowledge them in their mind and heart.

We should never let the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News of Salvation, become commonplace to us. We need to remember that what we see and hear every week is miraculous, wheat we read about, study and live in is what so many people have longed to hear for so long. Abraham, Isaac & Jacob would love to see what we see, the Kingdom of God finally at hand.
Moses gave up the treasures of Egypt to bring God’s people out of slavery because he was looking forward to what God was going to do, and you and I live in that today (we still wait for its completion, yes) and we have the fullness of His Word given to us.

That is no small thing. Familiarity with God only breeds contempt if we become familiar with the Word, with the Gospel, and then don’t do anything with it. Those who know, but do not act (as James warns against) paint a false image of the Kingdom in their own minds and hearts. It seems boring to them, and it doesn’t mean as much. This is a great loss to them.

Those who have ears to hear, eyes to see and who put God’s Word into practice will never have contempt for it.

Seeing the Kingdom at work will always keep your outlook fresh. Living in what God has planned out for you will always make the landscape looking beautiful and will increase your wonder at what He has done and will continue to do.

The scribes and Pharisees knew the words of God but they didn’t understand the Word of God. They knew it academically, but they didn’t understand it practically. It was all head knowledge and no heart knowledge. It must never be that way for us, because it if does, the eyes and ears of our heart will grow dark and silent, and we will cease to live in love. We will only study it and examine it and we will be robbed of wonder and awe and the mystery of who God is…and that is a sad place to be.

The Gospel, the Kingdom, must be lived. Go live it. Let it be fresh in you and Go Love others so they may see what God is doing and glorify Him in their lives as they come to Him to be saved.