Upward and Godward part 1
If you watch the news--which, admittedly, I don't--you see a lot of doom and gloom. A lot of, "It's bad out there, and it's getting worse." Because that's all the world knows. It's dog eat dog out there. Everybody trying to make others seem small so they can look a little bit bigger by comparison. Everybody kicking everybody else when they're down, trying to climb up the ladder. But here's where it falls apart: If you win the rat race... all you are is king rat. And who wants that, really? So here's my point, and the point of this Rant series: There's something better available. We are IN the world, but we are not OF the world. In fact, God "...hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10). Here's the key though: Reigning on the earth doesn't mean ruling people with an iron first. A true king--and we ARE kings. Jesus is the King of kings--is a servant. I know that's backwards to our natural minds. We want to get stuff. We want to have people serve us. But I've found... the more you get, the more you want. It's never enough. There's always something else to pursue. The rat race is really a hampster wheel that goes around and around in circles but never gets you anywhere. So. What we OUGHT to do, instead of just going on the way we've been going, is we should realize that a change has taken place. We WERE dead in our trespasses and sins. But we have been quickened. Made alive. And not just "life" but Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. We have been given the gift of God. Which means we know Him as loving heavenly Father and we know ourselves (and each other) as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Let me quote my Scripture for today. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:1-2). Because there IS something else available to us. We may be IN the world, but we ARE the Kingdom! You know, the realm where the King rules and reigns. We reign on the earth, because Jesus rules through us. He is the King of kings. And understand that we are not just IN the Kingdom, but we ARE the Kingdom makes all of the recources of the Kingdom available to us. Because they are INSIDE us. The Kingdom is righteousness, peace, and joy, right? And it's in the Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost is in us. And what's inside comes out, when you know and believe that it's in there. Now let me bring this home. 1 John 4:17 says, "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." There's a lot there, and we're gonna look at some of it in this series, but I want to focus on the "as He is, so are we in this world" part. Because in order to BE as He is, we need to KNOW how He is. And we find that truth out by seeking the things above. By setting our affections on the things above. Because that's WHERE He is. Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. And the more we seek Him, the more we find Him, as He reveals Himself to us, and in us, and through us. Not doom and gloom... not the "facts of life." But the glorious truth about who we really are. Not starting at the bottom and working our way down... but upward and Godward!