We never want the basement apartment. The very idea of being below ground level gives us a feeling of unease. Give us the penthouse, we cry! We want at the very top!
The truth is, we have to work harder to reach the penthouse, and the cost is two or three times as much. Yet, the reward we receive is so much greater. We receive more light, access greater vistas, and when the wind blows, catch the cooling breezes.
Life is better in the penthouse.
Revelation 19:9 tells us:
“And the angel said to me, Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true words of God.”
God invites us to his penthouse celebration. He wants us to join him for a mountaintop experience, to live closer to him, and to experience full exposure to his cooling breezes. It’s when we’re on top of our problems that we can appreciate the vistas of his bounty and feel the light of his glory shining on our face.
Read in Isaiah 9:6:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
When this verse was written, Jesus wasn’t a glimmer of a thought on the world’s scene. Yet, for those of the saints living within the penthouse of God’s glory, his presence was already assured. When we’re on the mountaintop with God, he reveals his truths unto us.
Even Jesus found value in the mountaintop. We find him there in Matthew 5:1-48. The passage begins with:
“Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth…”
This passage introduces the Sermon on the Mount, giving us the treasured Beatitudes we so love to quote. It was from the mountaintop that the people could hear the Lord speak his words of truth to them.
When we join with God on his mountaintop; when we inhabit his penthouse of praise; God will be able to use us to minister to those around us. The winds of the Father's cooling presence will not only billow past us on our mountaintop, they will then sweep down the mountain, carrying the refreshing breezes of God’s loving nature to those who struggle in the foothills far below.
When we are truly aligned with God, the blessing he showers on us will flow to those we come into contact with every day.
To truly bless those around us, we must be in a position for God to first pour his blessing out on us.
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