In the disciple's prayer (Matthew 6:9-15), Jesus instructs them to pray, "thy kingdom come". John MacArthur says in his commentary on Matthew that "our greatest desire should be to see the Lord reigning as King in His kingdom....His program and His plan should be the preoccupation of our lives and of our prayers." He goes on to say that "sinful man could not be a part of a divine reign. That is why we do not advance God's kingdom by trying to improve human society. Many good and worthy causes deserve the support of Christians, but in supporting these causes we neither build the earthly kingdom of Jesus Christ or bring it closer. Even the best of such things are but holding actions that help retard the corruption that will always and inevitably characterize human societies and human kingdoms, until the Lord returns to establish His own perfect kingdom."
In thinking about God's perfect kingdom and our purpose in prayer to call for that kingdom to come, another great writer sheds light that correlates with this kingdom subject. What if you died and became a part of God's perfect kingdom and came back to earth. How would that change your thinking? Dr. Schaeffer writes, in reference to Romans 6:10-11, "by faith we are to live now as though we have already died...live by faith now...as though we had been raised already from death...in our thoughts and lives now we are to live as though we had already died, been to heaven, and come back again as risen."
For my 200th post, I do something I've never done: Part I. I will continue another time to think a bit more of the subject of dying, being raised to heaven and coming back to earth. This is strictly hyperbole but I believe it is very important pondering in order to evaluate our present Christian thought, words and work. We must be wise and efficient for there will be a time, a day when all opportunity will be over.
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