Already There

"Are we there yet?"  "When will we get there?"  Every parent has heard these questions.  Guess what -- God hears this kind of question from his children all the time!  I used to be told that I was waiting for something called "the Kingdom of God" and until that "came" I just had to wait for anything really good to happen.  I hear people say "Oh, I just can't wait to get to heaven" and they seem to be simply gritting their teeth and enduring physical life so they can be blessed by God after they die. 

Here's the truth:  in many ways we've already arrived!  When the Son of God took on human flesh (John 1:14) and made his home among us, the universe changed.  Instead of being distant from God, as we have perceived ourselves since the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-11) the entire human race, indeed the whole of creation, was joined to God as the Son of God entered the physical world.  The whole universe is now contained in Christ and is sustained by him -- and if it weren't, it would cease to exist!  (Col. 1:17, Heb. 1:3 etc).  Because of the self-sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, and because he was raised from the dead and because he returned, in his human body, to the Father, people are no longer cut off from God, but all of us are brought to God through Jesus:  "through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross" (Col. 1:20).  And Jesus says "I am with you always" in Mat. 28:20 -- not "will be with you" if we pray hard enough, but is with us now. 

In Eph. 1:3, Paul says we have been given "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms."  Note the past tense -- we have been given those gifts already.  But what if we don't perceive the blessings God has already given us?  If we live as if those blessings don't exist, how much are we missing out on?  Yet, sadly, that's how a lot of Christians live -- sadly, as if they are poverty-stricken children of the Most High -- a contradiction in itself!  (No, we're not talking about health-and-wealth, as though Christians are never supposed to have any wants in this life.  Instead, we learn how to take all our wants to Jesus.)   The difference is, we have been given spiritual blessings, and they are spiritually perceived -- not physically, although they do impact our physical lives as a result. 

Paying attention spiritually is the key, then.  Since you are a disciple of Jesus, then it's important to focus on that reality.  How do we do that?  We'll talk about that next time.  Here's a hint:  it's something 'spiritual.'