Reconciled Then Beyond

Reading the Old and New Testaments, it’s easy to believe that God loved “his own” and hated all the rest of the human race. This view, in a sense, might allow believers to also hate the rest of the human race, including anyone who is not a believer, everyone who does not believe like us, and to reject all people who were focused on “other” things here on earth – fun, drugs, entertainments, occupations, different gods and various vocations – whatever it is – if they were not sold out Christians who hate this world – they may be seen as our enemies too . . . after all, it is easy to believe that if God hates them, we have license to do the same.

This attitude appears to be supported when we apply the Old and New Testament texts to ourselves in this day and age. And anyone who reads the texts seriously and assumes that they have material, literal application to them today must agree that this is, in fact, a central message therein.

However . . .

If and when people come to see that the Old Testament was to the nation of Israel as a means to unite and keep them until the arrival of their Messiah, and that the New Testament were the words and letters of the Apostles written to the converts to Christianity in that age as a means to keep and protect them until then return of their Messiah, and then also realize that nowhere in the New Testament do we ever read that the content was supposed to be assigned to every human being who ever reads it, we open ourselves up to another more reasonable, more workable, more loving rendering and application of the text, which might be explained in the following way:

Since the death, resurrection, ascension and return of Christ for His Church-bride, God has set in order and established His kingdom in heaven that will forever stand. He, through His Son, has COMPLETELY overcome the world and everything in it, above it, and below its surface by the sacrifice of His only begotten, and as a result of this consummate and total victory, the world and all of its inhabitants are FREE to choose how they will live their lives – with God’s total and complete approbation.

What this appears to look like is

1. God has had the victory over sin, Satan, hell, death and the grave.
2. All of His creations, made in His image, are freely and unconditionally loved by God,
3. And as such are wholly free to choose
4. Who they will serve
5. What they will be
6. How they will live
7. Where they will place their affections
8. Why they do what they do
9. When, if ever, they will change course

Of course, God is all the while calling to all to become His sons and daughters, which is an entirely different matter than men and women living by their own will, nevertheless, God is forever calling to all to be His and He does this through:

1. Conscience
2. His person written on nature and the cosmos
3. The spirit of His Son calling to all to believe
4. The witness of His written Words read and preached
5. The living epistles of Christians sharing Him with others
6. Manifestations of His love in the world
7. His allowing difficulties to bring people around to Him and His solutions.

Having access and being exposed to these things, all humans are adequately given the opportunity to receive Him throughout the course of their lives.

Those who refuse the election are free to make such a choice, and God loves and blesses and loves them in whatever they choose, as He adores freedom and knowing that He uses all things to bring about His eternal will.

It seems that God has the rain fall on the just and the unjust in this world, and that for those who wish to make their time on earth about their time on earth are supported by Him. We might suppose that He has blessed our scientists, and businesspeople, and entertainers with the desires of their hearts and uses them and their skills to bless the lives and hearts of people all over the world; that in the discovery of cures for illness God is glorified and humankind is blessed. That in the production of great music Man is blessed and God blesses this world with bounties from the hearts of men and women who seek to focus on such things. The point is we are all given desires, gifts, opportunities and insights and we decide how much of our lives and time we will devote to enhancing and applying them to the betterment of the world around us.

In this view, I now find myself humbled and grateful for people who bake our bread, pick up our trash week after week, operate on my body and teach in our schools. It seems God has ordained his creations to contribute to this world and He rewards those who seek to better it with blessings of this world – long-life, health, wealth, fame or whatever by-products come from their desires to play their part.

Instead of seeing people who have no interest in God and the things of the Spirit negatively, I now look on them as contributors to this life, as important pieces to the world fabric and most importantly, as people who are doing what they want in life – that they are exercising their freedoms to live as they choose; whether they choose to seek and know God is not pertinent to the way I see or treat them – they are His creations and my job is to love them no matter what their path – as they were made in the image of our God and He gives them the time and choice to pursue whatever course they want with the time allotted them. Since God judges the hearts of man, it is up to Him to decide their afterlife fate.

Finally, to the subject of those who move from being His creations to becoming His Sons and daughters through faith on His Son. There are night and day difference between them and those who freely choose to focus on other things with the time that they are given. These few, from the heart, seek –

1. God in Spirit and in truth
2. Have a very light touch on the things of this world
3. Love Him first and love others in harmony with loving Him
4. Take time to know Him and His Son whom He sent
5. They actually strive to follow His Son by the Spirit, including the fact that they
6. Present fruit of the Spirit
7. Abide in Christ and He abides in them
8. Walk in faith and truth
9. Suffer with Him
10. Die daily with Him
11. Are buried with Him and rise to new (spirit) life
12. Condemn nobody
13. Their Kingdom is NOT of this world.
14. They humble themselves
15. They are salt and light to the world around them
16. They embody the beatitudes
17. They do not condemn the world but to save it
18. Do not allow ANYTHING to come between them and God, not . . .
19. Materialism
20. Religion
21. Position of Authority
22. Traditions of Man
23. Rewards
24. Acceptance
25. Peace of this world
26. Revenge or anger
27. Money or greed
28. Lust or avarice
29. Idolatry
30. Family
31. Community, politics, this kingdom
32. Occupation, career, hobbies
33. Cares of the world
34. Entertainments, luxury, pleasures
35. Earthly securities
36. Relationships and friends
37. Popular Opinion
38. But instead follow King Jesus with their time, attention, and very lives.

In the end, it is my understanding that all will find a heavenly home after this life, but many will reside outside the gates of the New Jerusalem, some will reside within, a number within the holy place, but very few will have access to the Holy of Holy as joint heirs with Christ. Those who do are so not of this world the world will not understand them at all.