HEAVENLY AND EARTHLY REALITIES

 

 

We need to understand these two realities, especially the heavenly set, so that we do not despair. The reality that consumes us is the earthly reality in which we are always trying to prove that we are significant. This reality leads us to lie about ourselves and to adopt narcissistic delusions. It is also addictive and life-controlling.

In The Significant Life, attorney George M. Weaver illustrates the drive to establish our self-importance:

·       Individual humans are not concerned so much about the survival of the species as they are about their personal survival or significance. In order to push ourselves beyond our confining space-time limits, we as individuals try to set ourselves apart from the rest of humanity. It is unsettling to admit that one is average or ordinary – a routine person. (7)

Weaver detailed our attempts to attain significance through success, money, power, and popularity but also through criminal acts like starting fires so that the arsonist can gain notoriety by saving lives. John David Chapman had even gunned down his hero, John Lennon so that he could be a “somebody.” The day before, Chapman had obtained Lennon’s autograph; the day after he returned with his gun.

What is the remedy for this life-controlling addiction? The heavenly reality where will all be significant somebodies! We need to grasp the fact that God loves us beyond anything we can imagine:

·       Ephesians 3:19 Paul had labored that we would… “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

His love is eternal and requires no more than to genuinely trust in Him, and this produces a faith that will utterly transforms our lives. This is the heavenly reality through which God sees us through the eyes of love. Let me try to illustrate both realities with the life of Abraham:

·       Romans 4:18–20 In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.

This is the heavenly reality (HR) of a man who trusts in God despite his many failings.

viewed from the ER, Abraham’s faith had failed on many occasions. He consistently had his beautiful wife Sarah lie and say that she was his sister, and not his wife, so that no one will kill him to take her. Abraham had also given up believing that God would provide a son for him. In desperation, he impregnated his servant girl Hagar in hope of raising an heir through her. However, God saw him in an entirely different way, even as His prophet (Genesis 20:7).

We see a wealth of Scriptural support for these two realities. Lot had been living a compromised life in in sin-filled Sodom. These compromises were culminated on two successive nights when his daughters got him drunk so that they would bear his children. However, in the sight of God, Lot was righteous:

·       2 Peter 2:7–8 …he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard.

Job had repeatedly charged God with injustice because of his suffering. Finally, Job got what he wanted—an audience with God, who was angry because of Job’s irresponsible words. To win Job to Himself, He demonstrated how little Job understood, and Job repented of his foolish words:

·       Job 42:7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

Right? God had been furious with Job! However, Job had repented, and the HR took over. The ER was now superseded by the HR, and everything was forgiven.

The ER should not be overlooked. If we abuse our wives, we should not say, “I am beloved by God. Therefore, your criticism is invalid.” Instead, we must take full responsibility for our conduct and confess our sins and, if necessary, make reparations so that the HR might swing into effect.

Jesus’ prayer to His Father also reflects both realities. From the ER, Jesus hardly ever complimented His disciples, who we see as racists, classists, and almost always misunderstood  Jesus. However, in this prayer, we observe the HR in effect:

·       John 17:6–8 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.

Jesus regarded His disciples as glorious, not as the fools of the ER. This lesson is of utmost importance. If we see ourselves accurately through the lens of the ER, we will become depressed or at least highly discouraged. However, to see us ourselves through God’s lens, the HR, we are beloved and empowered. However, the benefits of the HR do not stop there. God has promised His child Abraham:

·       Genesis 12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Not only does our Savior “have our back,” He has made us a conduit of His blessings to the world. Our mere presence in a town channels God blessings to that town. God (“Yahweh, in Hebrew) confided to Abraham that He was planning to destroy Sodom, where Abraham’s nephew Lot and family had been living. Abraham therefore pleaded in favor of Sodom:

·       Genesis 18:32 Then [Abraham] said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten [righteous] are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.”

However, in the case of Jerusalem, God lowered the requirement to only one believer:

·       Jeremiah 5:1 Search [Jerusalem’s] squares to see if you [Jeremiah] can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.

This principle still operates with God’s children today. The presence of a single believer in a marriage means blessing to the rest of the family members:

·       1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Understanding this principle has transformed my life. I now understand that I am a source of blessing. I no longer need to be fearful of rejection or of being dishonored. I am who I am according to how He sees me, and this identity transcends everything else. According to Jesus, I no longer have to build my self-esteem or to prove myself worthy:

·       Matthew 10:40-42 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

The opposite is also true. I need not think of taking revenge against those who hurt me. Instead, Jesus will take care of the issue of justice. Instead, He has made my task a pleasure—to simply love even my enemies:

·       Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

We are so beloved and nurtured by our Savior that He cares for our every need and even glorifies us.