“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,” Phil3.20 NIV
Christians are sometimes accused of being escapists, and that our love for heaven keeps us from making earth a better place. If we are honest, we would concede that this shoe definitely fit’s the attitude of some Christians today. But, this was certainly not the vision of America‘s founding fathers, most of whom were professing Christians. People who have no concern for the environment, or a cure for AIDS, or for anything but the rescue of souls from the sinking ship called earth, are living and sucking on the freedoms secured by the faith a more mature generation of Christians.
In one sense I think those who care the most for heaven will do the most for earth. Why? Because when Christ taught us to set our affections on things above He was not directing us to it’s streets of gold but to that one virtue that transforms everything it touches into a heaven. Heaven is heaven because God abides there. The one who abides in love abides in God. Love is always caring, improving, seeking to benefit in every way. Love is transforming and will transform all that it touches. Christians should not only seek to preserve the environment but to make it better. One way we do this is by making the people who live in the world more caring and more loving. Scriptures teach us that a righteous man cares for the needs of his animals. Love transforms the uncaring into the caring.
As one brother put it, earth can be either the upper reaches of hell or the lower reaches of heaven. The presence or absence of Christian love is what renders it one or the other. 6/14/07 ts
Just me trying to be honest with God.
