Heaven operates on a different timeline.
There is no 9-5 in eternity. There’s not work, really, either. Rather, worship.
How does that translate into life on Earth?
If I view each task, each objective, each relationship through a Heavenly lens, my perspective can only change. Our work on Earth is manifestation of worship we will practice forever. This is even more important as we understand that eternity includes the present moment.
Worship can mean leaving the comforts of home to visit the sick. Worship can include preaching the Gospel to crowds of people who have never heard. Worship can occur inside a church, but is not necessary.
Worship is not work, but work can be transformed and offered as worship. So, as I teach students in an American public high school, I worship. Each conversation (pleasant or painful) is an act of worship, reflecting the Creator to His creation. Or, if I sit with a child in Burkina Faso in the shade of a Tonga tree, I reflect the Creator in the same way. Sometimes, worship even requires solitude, recognizing that only Christ can save myself or anyone else.
Accomplishments on earth pale in comparison to the glory of Christ, revealed in eternity. Now we see reflections, glimpses, of His glory. But, when we are united with Christ? Perfection.
Worship accepts perfection without understanding it. Faith is often defined as believing in the unseen. True worship is faith in God as a good Father. Understanding that all will be made right in His Kingdom provides the faith necessary for any momentary troubles. In the scope of eternity, the entire history of the world is momentary. How much more the life of an individual?
And yet, worship recognizes the role of the individual. Every person who calls on the name of Jesus Christ can be saved into His family. So, self-degrading is not necessary to enter His presence in worship. Instead, we confidently enter as sons and daughters. We reverently understand that Christ has chosen us into His family. With humility, we worship together as the Church, His holy Bride. We respect our Lord and Savior, unafraid of rejection, for perfect love casts out fear. In worship, we see our role in His beautiful plan of salvation. We are given direction to move as His hands and feet, to take the Gospel to every corner of the Earth.
We worship in compassion, in courage, and in reverence. We live as citizens of Heaven, such that the Earth takes notice. We ask grace not to control our sin nature, but to heal our brokenness so that only Truth flows from our lives. Together, Truth and grace transform the Earth.
Worship infects Earth with Heaven. Worship corrects our priorities in the moment, by reminding us that through Christ, we are eternal. Worship captures eternity into the moment. And while I cannot understand how that is possible right now, I trust that is exactly how it is intended to be. Worship is rooted in faith in our Savior.
Praise the name of Jesus Christ.
forever
Thursday, July 26, 2012
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Ephesians 5
Therefore, be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God. But among you there must not be either sexual immorality, impurity of any kind, or greed, as these are not fitting for the saints. Neither should there be vulgar speech, foolish talk, or coarse jesting – all of which are out of character – but rather thanksgiving. For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them, for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light – for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth – and find out what pleases the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention. But all things being exposed by the light are made evident. For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”
Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church – he himself being the savior of the body. But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious – not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great – but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
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