HEAVEN ON EARTH

We strive! We ache to escape. We swim upstream every hour of every day, against all things 'decay'. It feels like scaling up a mudslide. What exactly are we reaching for? Peace? Safety?
 
It's legit'! Jesus himself not only sanctions this scramble, but frames it from Genesis to Revelation in much more stunning intensity, intentionality, realism and relentlessness, than we do in any genre of literature or tragedy. His own instruction to us is to pray, 'your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven...' (Mt 6:9-13)
 
So what does God's kingdom on earth look like? Many things. Ineffable spirit. 'New heart and new spirit.' (Ez 36:26) Forgiveness in all directions. Repentance. But one thing is also true: heaven on earth makes heaven look so far from earth! Let me explain...
 
When Jesus floods your senses (Jn 7:37-38) and your spirit (Eph 1:14) and mind (Romans 12:1-2), and you do experience the peace of 'laying down in green pastures' and by 'streams of water' (Ps 23), and he changes your water to wine... well, here you taste, you feel, even for just a breath, a split second, what sinless, eternal streets of heaven are, and your yearning intensifies. Paul says, when considering to live or die,
 
'I would prefer by far to depart and be with Christ...' (Philippians 1:23)