Does not your heart often say: “I can’t get used to this world. It breaks my heart; it makes me sick; it makes me restless; I don’t belong”?
May we never get used to it! May we never get numb to the atrocities, the injustices, the greed and the violence. Of such a culture, the prophet Micah said, “Arise and depart, for this is not your rest. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God,” and this is not it! This culture is destructive, says Micah. (Micah 2:10)
No, this is not our home. This is not the place to come in by the fire and rest. Don’t get cozy with it. Our only rest here is in the Ark. Only in Jesus will our spirits be at rest. But in the world is the flood, the storm, the raging winds.
But God is in the process of redeeming what is fallen and setting right what Satan is intent on destroying. We are to be obedient to anything God is doing, but we should never be at rest in the world.
“It’s only temporary” should be the way we feel about any provisions of earth: homes, land, cars, promotions, (demotions), accomplishments.... Our permanence is internal—and eternal. We can only be at rest in Him until we rest with Him.
Meanwhile, we must love with abandonment, hope with fervor, and invest our energies in things that last forever! Let’s live like we’ve got nothing to lose! Indeed, losing (by this world’s value structure) is the very way to win in God’s economy.
