Kingdom Building

August 9, 2019

Scripture Reading:
Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them. –Hebrews 11:8, 13-16

We as followers of Christ are called to be refugees in our world today longing for and challenged to create a homeland that mirrors the love that Jesus modeled for us in his life. We are refugees sent forth into all the world to share the ways and worth, beauty and truth of Christ’s message. It seems to me that the closer we get to some semblance of peace and harmony in our segment of the world where our group has a pretty good life, having enough to meet basic needs and more, we grow complacent as the enticements of the world blend seamlessly into a worldview that equates our homeostasis* with God’s. They are not the same.

We are certainly not the first to view such things as our material success, being the same as God’s vision of the world. We even today have a title for it: The Prosperity Gospel. The stories of the Kings of Israel accompanied by the warnings of prophets like Amos and Isaiah illustrate the same scenario. I suppose that only proves that we truly do not learn from history. We, however, can learn from history striving to transition the whole world and all that is in it to God’s vision of the world God created. We not only can do this with God’s help, we must.

Prayer: Lord, save us from ourselves as we settle for less than your promises have to offer. Amen.

*a tendency toward maintenance of relatively stable social conditions among groups with respect to various factors (as food supply and population among animals) and to competing tendencies and powers within the body politic, to society see at http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/homeostasis

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.