Ahoy from Amoy! (historic Xiamen, China)
"I came from God, and I'm going back to God, and I won't have any gaps of death in the middle of life." GEORGE MACDONALD
As a child I prayed, "If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take," but as an adult I fear the greatest need is to fully Wake before we die.
I like the old song, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through," but do we emphasize the next life so much that we sleep through this life?
Consider Jesus' own example and words. When His disciples asked how to pray, he said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." God has a will for earth--here and now. And in John 17:15, Jesus prayed, "I do not ask that you take them [his followers] out of this world but that you protect them from the evil one."
The disciples, and you and I, are on this earth until He takes us out of it because we have a purpose here and now.
It seems Christians whose sole concern is Heaven or the Rapture are just as escapist as the Jews who did not accept Christ because they saw the Kingdom as escape from Roman Rule. This is why Christ seldom called himself the Messiah--because for the Jews, it had become a political term.
In Luke 17:20-21, the Jews asked Jesus when the Kingdom would come--expecting liberation from Rome. Jesus said the coming of the Kingdom was not something that could be observed because "the Kingdom of God is in your midst." The Kingdom is here, now, in us.
Until He takes us, this world is indeed our home, even if we're just "passin' through"--and we have a Purpose for being here.
We're in this world, here and now, because He longs to live in and through each of us as God's avatars to accomplish Unique Purpose He planned for us before laying the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 4:1-5).
So I pray daily, "Let Me Wake Before I Die!"
Wake up! Live!
Blessings from Amoy, China
Dr. Bill
Academic Director SMXMU OneMBA
Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com
"I came from God, and I'm going back to God, and I won't have any gaps of death in the middle of life." GEORGE MACDONALD
As a child I prayed, "If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take," but as an adult I fear the greatest need is to fully Wake before we die.
I like the old song, "This world is not my home, I'm just a passin' through," but do we emphasize the next life so much that we sleep through this life?
Consider Jesus' own example and words. When His disciples asked how to pray, he said, "Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..." God has a will for earth--here and now. And in John 17:15, Jesus prayed, "I do not ask that you take them [his followers] out of this world but that you protect them from the evil one."
The disciples, and you and I, are on this earth until He takes us out of it because we have a purpose here and now.
It seems Christians whose sole concern is Heaven or the Rapture are just as escapist as the Jews who did not accept Christ because they saw the Kingdom as escape from Roman Rule. This is why Christ seldom called himself the Messiah--because for the Jews, it had become a political term.
In Luke 17:20-21, the Jews asked Jesus when the Kingdom would come--expecting liberation from Rome. Jesus said the coming of the Kingdom was not something that could be observed because "the Kingdom of God is in your midst." The Kingdom is here, now, in us.
Until He takes us, this world is indeed our home, even if we're just "passin' through"--and we have a Purpose for being here.
We're in this world, here and now, because He longs to live in and through each of us as God's avatars to accomplish Unique Purpose He planned for us before laying the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 4:1-5).
So I pray daily, "Let Me Wake Before I Die!"
Wake up! Live!
Blessings from Amoy, China
Dr. Bill
Academic Director SMXMU OneMBA
School of Management, Xiamen University
Amazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"
www.amoymagic.comAmazon eBook "Discover Xiamen"
Bill Brown Xiamen University www.amoymagic.com
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