A renewed vision
Matthew 6.33 — 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to

you as well.

On another occasion, Jesus is asked to mediate in a monetary dispute between two brothers. Jesus uses the moment to tell a story about a man whose crops do well and who becomes rich. He then decides not to share the bounty but to build
bigger barns for storage and then take it easy for the rest of his days.

Jesus told this story at a time when many of his countrymen were losing family land and having trouble feeding their families. Being hungry was a very real issue for a lot of people. In the story, God is so offended by the man’s selfish ac- tions that his very life is taken from him that night.

It is one of the only places in all of Jesus’s teachings where someone does something so horrible in Jesus’s eyes that they deserve to die right away. And what is this horrible thing the man did? He refused to be generous. He brought hell to earth. Jesus wants his followers to bring heaven, not hell, to earth. This has been God’s intention for people since the beginning. Jesus is not teaching anything new for his day.

God walked in the garden, looking for Adam and Eve. God told the Israelites to build a tabernacle so he could live in their midst. King Solomon built a temple, God’s house, so God could live permanently among his people. And when Jesus comes, he’s referred to as God “taking on flesh and dwelling among us.” Another translation of this verse is, “The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood.” The entire movement of the Bible is of a God who wants to be here, with his people.

True spirituality then is not about escaping this world to some other place where we will be forever. A Christian is not someone who expects to spend forever in heaven there. A Christian is someone who anticipates spending forever here, in a new heaven that comes to earth. The goal isn’t escaping this world but making this world the kind of place God can come to. The outworking of our salvation is that God is remaking us into the kind of people who can do this kind of work.

Stop and breathe.
Father God, may we be a people who embrace your h+eart and vision for this earth. Help us be fit for service and have a heart that beats like yours.