A couple of Sundays ago, I had the privilege of preaching a sermon at my church (you can listen to it here). We were in a series on the book of Colossians, and my sermon was about how to live as mature Christians. I talked about how many things in life can distract us from living as mature Christians. But there is one distraction that might not be so obvious: The destination of heaven.
When we see how messed up this world is, it's tempting to want to say things like, "This world is not my home" or "I'm just passing through." And after seeing multiple shootings over the past two weeks, I'm tempted to lean into these phrases right now. Throw me a life preserver, God, and get me off of this sinking ship of a world.
But the vision of the New Testament is not that we would wait around to get scooped up and taken to heaven. Instead, the vision of the New Testament is that God is bringing his beautiful kingdom down to earth. And while that won't fully be completed until Jesus returns, we can begin the process now. (Or, more accurately, continue the process Jesus began when he rose from the grave on Easter Sunday.)
But how do we do that?
Well, Paul says we do it by putting on "the new self":
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14, NIV)
This is what it looks like to be heavenly-minded in the here and now. And it looks a lot like Jesus.
Yesterday, I came upon a Twitter conversation about Tuesday's school shooting in Texas. One person said, "It shouldn't be this way. It doesn't have to be this way."
To which someone else responded, "Total depravity says differently."
Now, I most certainly believe in total depravity. I write about messy, broken people, after all! But this is an area where we need to embrace some tension.
Total depravity is not a reason to throw our hands up and say, "Nothing can be done; this is just the way it is!"
If that were the case, Paul wouldn't have told us to clothe ourselves with the new self. He would have said, "Yeah, this world is terrible. Do your best to sit tight until Jesus gets back."
The way we treat people in the here and now matters. The way we respond to tragedies, pain, and hurt matters. We will never respond to brokenness as perfectly as Jesus did because we are all broken. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. God can still use broken vessels to do good works.
There is a song in the musical Godspell called "Beautiful City." And this is my favorite verse in the song:
When your trust is all but shattered
When your faith is all but killed
You can give up bitter and battered
Or you can slowly start to build
There are times—like this week—when the brokenness of the world is so palpable. We have no more tears. We just want God to take us away to a better world. And that is a good and right longing to have. But Jesus has called his church to begin the work of making our city (or town, suburb, school, village, ranch, neighborhood, kitchen table, etc.) a beautiful place that reflects his goodness. Time after time in the Bible, we see that prayers lead to action. People pray and then act on who they believe God to be. But we can't even begin the process until we clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
We need compassion and kindness as we interact with brokenhearted people.
We need the humility and gentleness to realize we don't have all the answers.
We need patience as we seek to work with others to find solutions.
And, as Paul says, the final piece of the outfit is love, which binds all the other pieces together.
And I know—this is all easier said than done. As I type these words, I feel like a fraud because I fail at this way too often. I can't do this on my own strength. The only way we have any hope of doing this is with Jesus.
I ended my sermon by quoting a famous line from the book The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe. When Susan, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy arrive in Narnia, they are trapped in eternal winter. Things look bleak under the reign of the White Witch. There is no hope to be found. But then Mr. Beaver says, "Aslan is on the move."
Sometimes it's hard to see any hope here on earth.
But Jesus is on the move.
And we get to join him in the work of bringing his beautiful kingdom here.
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P.S. If you’d like to support my writing, you can buy me a sweet tea to keep me caffeinated and it would be much appreciated.