What sort of sci-fi madness are you talking about Leah?
No sci-fi. Just the science based on the love of God.
So we will get right to it.
The Bible tells the Christians to be visitors of the world. Just passing through. That this is not their true home or hope, but that Christians ‘home’ is wherever Christ is. It’s like believing in a utopia land, all of the time, except it is real and everywhere we look.
“The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” John 15:19
Come out of the world? Where to? Where we headed Jesus? Space?
We are called, by name into his love. Some compare it to a river. Flowing into the hearts of his believers. But it’s also an ocean. Vast, constant, and bewilderingly deep.
He calls us to drown in him to our flesh. Not just once in-awhile. But every single day.
We are not meant or made for the land as Christians. The land started off as God’s territory but became Satan’s when Adam and Eve first sinned. Thankfully, God so loved the world, that he… and well I trust that you know the rest of how that goes. And since, we no longer have to take swimming lessons or pass certain test or rent a jet-ski to find ourselves deeply lost in the layers of the ocean of his affections for us.
We start on the land because of our flesh. But God, calls our name into deeper currents- moving further and further away from the shores and closer and closer to understanding and living through the pure living water he calls us to live in. This is Christianity.
“For the land is full of adultery, and it lies under a curse. The land itself is mourning- it’s wilderness pastures are dried up. For they all do evil and abuse what power they have.” Jeremiah 23:10
God knew the land was going to suck. Like really suck. He knew that it was going to be so corrupted and filled with people who practice lying, deceit, cheating, stealing, sexual sin, idolatry, etc as if it was okay. He knew that Satan was going to be so attractive and sell himself to us in the way he knows he can through to us.
He urges, begs, moves, prays, and pleads that we would become fed up with the earths crap.
He’s like isn’t this shallow? Don’t you hate this? Don’t you hate the pain here? Aren’t you sick of trying to formulate your own plans? Don’t you yearn for more? Don’t you yearn for a true purpose, belonging, and faithfulness from someone in a world that is filled to the brim with dishonesty disloyalty and lack of trust?
If you answered yes to any of these, you are ready for a dip in the great pool of love. You my friend, are ready for Jesus.
All so we, yes you and me, can abandon the shore. So we can say screw the land. We can start swimming and panting and sometimes floating and diving in the ocean of His gospel and who he is to us, the world, and in heaven.
But even as Christians- we cling to the shore so much. It is our worldy nature to do so! No one can blame you. If the shore isn’t what you were taught, it’s been made aware to you at some point in your life.
At some point you were sold Satans’ bull crap and likely bit into it, tasted and hopefully spit it out. Tasted and saw that his apple is non-nutritious. It’s fattening. Non spiritually yolking.
And due to our distracted lifestyles we somehow decide that we are only hungry for some real food on Sundays. That Sunday just happens to be only the only day of the week when we are really needing to be well-fed. And all through the rest of the week we can eat and drink and live however we decide but that on Sunday we are suddenly desperate and longing to be near to God.
Back to us being mermaids/merman?, somewhere somehow we decide that God is only good for once in awhile sunny beach days. Or only good when there is an a cool event going on like a beach volleyball tournament. So you go to your event, enjoy the aesthetic of the water. Post and take your pictures, and maybe take a dip in the sea.
You feel refreshed and energized, realizing and understanding why everyone loves beach days. Why people love the water and spend their lives either on it, in it, or learning about it. For that moment, you get it but before you even consider the potentials for yourself, you are out, drying off and mentally already off the high that you once had.
Ready to go back to land and live and play and learn and work there until some event takes place or you finally need some good ole beach vibes some sand in your toes and a pina-colada to rejuvenate from the chaos of that other place. We love these days so much that we begin to associate with them. Calling ourselves beach bums or sea lovers or other cute names. But how well do we know the specimen of the ocean? Or anything about it’s nature? Not very much.
So as Christians instead of storing up on the big island and only leaving our belongings for an once a week beach visit, what if we are called to grab our crap and loved ones and just dive in? Allowing his love to soak through, and permeate everything we see, everything we own, and everything we touch. That it would all be drenched, and soaked in his love and presence.
That we would live not even close to the shores, but miles deep and miles from the land breathing living and loving in a seemingly ‘impossible way’.
The world wants to say, what!! You need air to breath, you need items to have, you need titles!, you need clothes. You can’t give your life up for anything? And especially something you cannot see or touch. You need the land. Yet the Bible continously urges that the Lord is our daily bread, and He will provide everything we could ever need. That we live by Faith and not by sight. That we use our heart as our headlights and pathfinder rather than our heads.
If we lived more like this, wouldn’t this be a proper depiction of living in the world, and not of it? Everything in the kingdom of God is opposite. How deeply are you living through that truth?
