There is a tempting amnesia which some Christians let creep into their spiritual lives. In the estimation of some, the Bible begins with Matthew chapter 1. In the early years of the Church, there was even a heretic by the name of Marcion who taught that Christians should avoid reading the Old Testament completely. Yet, we cannot understand who Jesus is, unless we remember the words of the Law and the prophets which Jesus has come to fulfill. We cannot accurately assess the trajectory of God’s work in the Gospels if we fail to contemplate the broad arc of salvation history leading from Genesis and the time of Moses until the time of John the Baptists preaching.
Heaven and earth as we know them now, and everything that is to pass away at the end of time, will not pass away, says Our Lord, until all things have been fulfilled. Since that is the case, the proper attitude of a Christian trying to let these words of Christ settle into our minds and tramsform how we see the world, should be one that appreciates the beauty and glory of what God has done from the beginning. We should savor the splendors of creation, we should not let one small letter of the prophets sit unread in our Bibles or unheeded in our prayer. The openness of our hearts to what God has given so far will serve as an indicator to our readiness to receive the glory still in store for us in the end.
Let us pray and ask God to continue to open our hearts to praise and imitate His deeds past, present, and future.