Heaven on Earth

Our Father who art in Heaven, 

Hallowed be thy name. 

Thy kingdom come, 

Thy will be done, 

On earth as it is in heaven... 

Growing up I remember frequent mentioning of the Lord's prayer in different classes, sermons, and discussion. I remember always being taught that the part about "Thy kingdom come" alway being taught as something we don't really pray for because He has already brought this kingdom when He sent His son. Yesterday the girls and I had a bible study and discussion with Chris Shelby about how our job as followers of Christ is to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth.

Could you imagine?

In Acts 4 starting around verse 32 Luke writes about the early church. These people sold everything to the church and took care of each other. The first half of verse 34 says:

"There were NO needy persons among them."

Imagine a world without need or poverty. 

Wait..what IS poverty?

We got to discussing in our continuation of our bible study today what exactly poverty is. We also watched the following VIDEO that summed it up pretty well for us.

In Leviticus 25:35-43 God gives us the key to poverty and he tells us how he feels about poor people within His community.(You'll have to read that one for yourself) Though it is cliché, faith without works we know to be dead. I felt very moved today to share this with you, yes these are my thoughts and my ideas, but I think that after studying the word today it is what we are all called to do. Jesus didn't hang out in a synagogue saying "Wow, I really hope they come around here one day, maybe I will invite them to come to church on Sunday," and he didn't see people hurting and in poverty and think "Wow... I should really give them some shoes." Jesus went out and connected with people and taught them The Word. In Mark 8 Jesus fed the four thousand. These people were with him for three days before in verse 2 he noticed, "Wow these people are hungry we should probably feed them so they don't drop dead on the way home."(My modern translation) He was SO focused on sharing his word and walking through the crowds that he did not even realize they hadn't eaten...in three days! Yes, it is good to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit those in prison, Jesus did that. But we should not lose sight that the only thing that will remove people from poverty is the love of Christ and the community of friendships that are only found in His kingdom. 

His word. His kingdom. His community. 

Bottom line.

xoxox

Darian