Weight of the World part 4
There's in a line in a song that goes, "I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like." And even though, as believers, we KNOW what it really is--It is finished--it seems like so many times we get lost in what it feels like. We get crushed under the weight of the world. We let external forces define our reality. We run around trying to "change things" in our own strength, with our own human effort, instead of resting in the arms of the One who already changed everything. On the cross Jesus remade the world in His image: the Messianic rebirth of the world. And because of that rebirth, we were conformed into His image. That's why Paul said be not conformed to the world. Because we have already been conformed to something else. To someONE else. We were already translated out of the power of darkness and into the Kingdom! That's a done deal. That's not something that needs to happen, that's something that already happened. That's not something we need to do (or CAN do), that's something Jesus already did both for us and as us. So. We know what it really is. We know that we are IN the Kingdom, and we know that we ARE the Kingdom. And that belief, that faith, is what allows us to walk by faith and not by sight. Standing on the Rock (Jesus, love) is what keeps us from being shaken. Trying to follow in Jesus' foot steps will cause us to fall. Trying to change things that have already changed is doomed for failure. But letting Jesus make His own foot steps in our feet KEEPS us from falling. Resting in a finished work is what allows us to enjoy the fruit of Jesus' labor. And that's what abundant life is all about. Not about surviving, but thriving. Not about suffering for a few years and then getting to heaven when we die (if we were good enough), but about experiencing the days of heaven on earth! That's the difference between being IN the world and being OF the world. Let me say it like this, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:9-10). Kings and priests to reign in heaven. Wait. No. Kings and priests to reign ON THE EARTH. We spend so much time trying to escape the earth and get to heaven that we seem to miss the truth that Jesus brought heaven TO earth! The Kingdom isn't somewhere to get to. The Kingdom is within us! And that means wherever we go we're in the Kingdom. That means the weight of the world is powerless against us because the Kingdom is ever-expanding. You can't crush it. You can't stop. You can't even hope to contain it. We have been filled to overflowing with the Kingdom (righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost) and it flows out of us (naturally) like a river of living water! So instead of trying to change things, instead of trying to overcome the world, and GET TO the Kingdom, we have been equipped and empowered to live in, and out of, the Kingdom right now. We don't have to take what the world throws at us. We have the unlimited economy of the Kingdom at our disposal!