God has put us in a world where things run very differently form the way they run in heaven. We are called to live by faith that the precepts of heaven will work in a world where the governing principles and beliefs appear very different. We have a phrase for someone who can make things work using the precepts of this world; 'wordly wise'. However God is looking for something else. As the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 and 6 makes clear, Jesus wants us to function in a way that is alien to this world.
Our hearts have been born of the Spirit of God if we have been born again. Our hearts belong to heaven. We are not wholly comfortable with this world. This is to be expected. Paul calls us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3v2). We are asked to pray 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven'.
Our hearts have been born of the Spirit of God if we have been born again. Our hearts belong to heaven. We are not wholly comfortable with this world. This is to be expected. Paul calls us to set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Col 3v2). We are asked to pray 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven'.
We are told to ask, seek, knock. We are calling across a chasm. God can hear though. We are asking for heaven to be exhibited on earth. We are looking for two worlds increasingly growing apart to be reconciled. We are calling for heaven to be manifest on earth. We may do so mostly selfishly, looking for the provision and security of heaven to be shown in our own lives. We may do so less selfishly, asking that poverty and oppression end for others; for the justice of heaven to be manifest on the earth. Either way is faith, but I am confident that those who rule and reign over most in the age to come will be those who used their faith most selflessly in the present age. They are the ones I would want to have high positions in heaven.
Why does God leave us in a world with frequently hostile ideologies and principles? Partly to show us they do not really work. Peace and fulfillment elude humanity. Dreams prove evasive, hollow and deceptive. Partly to develop a longing for heavenly precepts and peace which will cement our citizenship in heaven when they are fulfilled. He wants to strongly align our hearts with heaven even in the presence of strongly opposing practices and philosophies. It is our faith in the God of heaven which enables us to live a life not conformed to this world. That faith is more precious than pure gold in his sight. 1 Peter 1v7 Romans 12v2
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