"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him."
John 14:15-16 (ESV)
A terrible crime had been committed and the authorities were questioning the perpetrator: "Why did you do this?" His answer: "I was just bored."
Boredom does not exist in the kingdom of God. I am sorry that heaven has gotten such a bad rap as a place where we recline on clouds and play harps. Some think it is the ultimate weekend. We don't know much about heaven except that it is uninterrupted fellowship with God. It is the kingdom of God without the presence of sin and its devastation. The same relationships that operate in the kingdom now, will be operative then. We might as well get accustomed to living in the kingdom so that heaven won't be such a shock.
Since reality is a kingdom, we should not be surprised to discover that a king is ruling everything. It is simple. He commands and we obey. Jesus demonstrated how that worked while he was on earth. He came to earth in obedience to the Father. He spoke what the Father told him, and did what the Father showed him. He even commended a Roman soldier for understanding the order of ultimate reality. The centurion had a sick son and wanted Jesus to heal him. He commented that Jesus need not come to his house. He understood because he was a soldier that when the one in authority gives the command, the servants do what he says. Somehow he recognized that Jesus had authority over everything including sickness. Jesus only had to give the command--which he did.
What if we did everything as an act of obedience to our Father? We could be confident of his accompanying presence and power. He does not send a servant without supplying all the needed resources to accomplish the task. We would never fear failure. We would not use excuses of having too little money. We would just go and expect God to supply (miraculously if necessary) what we needed. That would be an adventure. No telling what kind of circumstances we could find ourselves in. Maybe we would be like Daniel in the lions' den. What a story to tell the grandkids! Or maybe we could be like Paul and Silas in prison when the earthquake freed them and brought the jailer to the point of faith. Well, we could go on, but you get the picture. Obedience leads to seeing God intervene on behalf of his servants. That is always exciting.
Boredom comes from not having anything meaningful to do. We are never in that condition. We have an earth to subdue. We have disciples to attend. We have a commission from God the king, to represent him every place we go, 24-7. There is no down time from being in his service. There is no secular respite from God's word. We are to vacation under his command, as well as, go to work under his command. He is as willing to create adventure on our recreation time as on our mission trips.
It is safe to travel under his orders. He has promised to go with us, and when he is present, exciting things happen.
SYNERGY - Better Together: October 01, 2010 click for more > Five Pillars of New Testament Discipleship: : October 15, 2010 click for more > Family Reunion Retreat: December 03, 2010 click for more >
