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We are not citizens of this world trying to make our way to heaven; we are citizens of heaven trying to make our way through this world. That radical Christian insight can be life-changing. We are not to live so as to earn God’s love, inherit heaven, and purchase our salvation. All those are given to us as gifts; gifts bought by Jesus on the cross and handed over to us. We are to live as God’s redeemed, as heirs of heaven, and as citizens of another land: the Kingdom of God. We live as those who are on a journey home; a home we know will have the lights on and the door open and our Father waiting for us when we arrive. That means in all adversity our worship of God is joyful, our life is hopeful, our future is secure. There is nothing we can lose on earth that can rob us of the treasures God has given us and will give us. ~ The Laddisfarne, via The Anglican Digest
A month or two ago, a dear Facebook friend by the name of Ron Morris went through one of those escapades that might well be described as “life-changing”, as in experiencing a heart attack while on his job. Suffice to say (as he describes in his own words) had one of his fellow-workers not been around at that precise moment, he could well have gone on to see his maker as one of the newest citizens of heaven. As it was, he was tended to in short order by paramedics and then whisked off to hospital.
A few weeks or so following the incident, and his coming out of a period of recovery, I received this little message from him and although tight on composition (a great skill of Ron) it is definitely long on content, which I am more than happy to share with you. The only changes I’ve made are in terms of punctuation/sentence structure etc., otherwise it is a sentiment about we citizens of heaven straight from Ron’s heart.
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Dennis .. Much love!
Midweek Rabbit Trail Meandering in The 4th Watch Of The Night – “Scatter-shooting” even; could be dangerous, could be boring; might be nothing more than a meaningless typing exercise. Scatter-shooting happenz.
I don’t believe in luck, blind or otherwise. Matter of fact, 99.9999999999999% of the world doesn’t care one iota (doesn’t give a rat’s patooty) what I believe. By nature, we are self-focused and absorbed, and little else matters.
Look around, Our Grand Creator is mostly ignored, replaced too often by counterfeit religions in every which direction (always trendy in a Humanistic World that allows the false as long as it serves to immunize the masses against the real deal). Sight to the blind and Life to the dead? Not in their vocabulary, nor understanding.
The EXCEPTION to all this built-in natural deterioration and chaos that surrounds, would be the family unit – a protective love-circle cocoon and programmed-survival necessity. Instituted by Our Lord to insure our propagation and continuation.
His larger interest is LOVE-related, I believe, the hidden mystery of marital love and becoming “one flesh”; of familial love that is truly “sacrificial” in nature. Willing to die for your loved ones; reproducing after your own kind in order to increase this “LOVE miracle” by leaps and bounds! And learning to return sincere and honest love to Our Giver of Life.
Shadows of heaven in our earthly plane y’all! Sure, these pale, earthly glimpses are but poor imitations; faint shadows; earthly examples of God’s unfiltered and raw love towards His Children.
We must take Heavenly things in small, sheltered increments in this place, lest we die from the sudden revelation of the magnitude of His Unfathomable Love to us-ward. Our current bodies are unable to process this kind of download.
0.00000000000001% give or take? Really? I feel unique! A standout in the crowd even.
Just a wild guess. I like to be surprised, suspecting the number is much less than that 99.9999999999999% figure.
He that guides the steps of His Children, autographing the tablets of our hearts with His Living, Breathing Love neither sleeps nor slumbers. Stand firm! Flow naturally in His Spirit, in Supernatural Ways that don’t scare those without eyes of understanding and ears of hearing.
Final Chapters are yet to be written.
Grace and peace multiplied ~ The Observing Observer (still kickin’ it!) (c :
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To which I duly responded:
What a brilliant and concise essay of Creator-God and the fealty towards Him from the crowning glory of His Creation, which would be man-and-woman-kind citizens of heaven. A master wordsmith thou art indeed brother Ron bringing forth an essay of particular excellence towards the real, versus the shadow which brother Paul described to us in I Cor 13:12: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
I could metaphorically-dine on such gems of wisdom from here to eternity and wherever else in between; just keep ’em coming brother Divine, just keep ’em coming. Even so, come Lord Jesus and Bless our brother for his words of divine reality. Amen. Maranatha. In Him!
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In closing, back in February I did a piece on “Give us this day our Daily Bread” in which I declared:
When I pray the Lord’s Prayer (each and every day) I always pause – at the very least – when I come to the phrase, ‘Give us this day.’ And in that pause I remember another phrase derived from scripture: ‘Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.’ ~ Proverbs 27:1
Which reminds me of this sentiment, picked up a few years ago:
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom… Psalm 90:12
There are two days in every week we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. Nor can we erase a single word we’ve said – yesterday is gone.
The other day we shouldn’t worry about is Tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise either in splendour or behind a mask of clouds but it will rise. And until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.
As brother Ron Morris’s experience reminds us – Let us therefore, live one day at a time. After all: “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” ~ Psalm 118:24
We have been silent witnesses of evil deeds; we have been drenched by many storms; we have learnt the arts of equivocation and pretence; experience has made us suspicious of others and kept us from being truthful and open; intolerable conflicts have worn us down and even made us cynical. Are we still of any use? What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, and straightforward men. Will our inward power of resistance be strong enough, and our honesty with ourselves remorseless enough, for us to find our way back to simplicity and straightforwardness? ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison
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Soli Deo Gloria!
Link To DennisGHurst.com
