SPEAKING TO THE SOUL

While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.
2 Corinthians 5:4 NLT

Waking each morning, I engage with God, for without him I am no one. Similarly, at the end of each day as I stretch out in bed, I focus on him. I seek to see beyond that which is, into that which is yet to be. God’s reality can so often be lost in everyday noise and activity. Indeed, I would be perpetually anxious were I to seek to confront immediacy.

Daily life is a struggle. From servicing my needs to realising my potential, I have to confront the voices of self-doubt as well as those of criticism.

But the as yet unrealised reality of God’s kingdom can be expressed here on the earth. This is the very heart of the prayer that Jesus taught us. My well-being is endangered to the extent that I pursue my own human welfare and in doing so displace God’s kingdom with my own. While carrying within it shadows of God’s kingdom, it is sadly merely a projection of my own will and my perceived needs. The longer it takes to realise this, the longer I remain entombed within my earthly body. It’s not that I yearn to leave this earth. Rather, I long to inhabit as much of God, forged through faith, that I can. So my intentional, studied focus is on that which is yet to be, but which is in view, by faith.

While rooted firmly on the earth, you and I are called to set our hearts on things above.

It is my desire, honed through years of seeking God, to live in as close proximity as possible to the glorious upward call that is mine in Christ Jesus.

QUESTION

Why not take some time to scan your situation for the life of God?

PRAYER

Almighty and everlasting Father, may I live in the grace of your eternal glory, as I seek to partner with your Holy Spirit to build your kingdom “on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10, NLT).

Photo – The Foyle river