On top of things

It seemed as if he always played 'above all the others', because he had the rare ability to be in the air for more time than all his opponents. Sadly, when his wife died he had to abandon basketball.

I am speaking of NATE DAVIES. A little while ago my family had the opportunity to be with him in his church in Atlanta (Bigmiller Grove Church), and despite all the problems in his life, Nate told us, "My confidence in God has not changed; he is always by my side".

Nate had learnt to live resting in God, as if he was already in heaven. And this despite losing several loved ones, many friends, and going through some very difficult situations in the past few years.

"Everyone who believes in me has eternal life", said Jesus. Millions of people have believed this in a future tense, but not so many believe it for their present lives.

I'll explain: the Lord said 'has', not 'will have': sometimes we think of life in relation to God as something that will occur one day (in heaven), and we don't realise that it is something that has already started, from the moment we believed in him.

And so, right now we are living in heaven... well, it's not exactly like that, but it's something along those lines. The only thing that will change will be the place and the 'packaging'. Our bodies will be transformed into the image of Christ, but all the rest has already started.

For this reason a prophet like Habakkuk could say: He enables me to go on to the heights. Our life is a kind of walking on air, in the best sense of the word.

Let's see if I can explain myself: we should not be wallowing in the daily problems of life in the same way as someone who does not know God. Yes, we have problems, but we are able to see them from a spiritual perspective.

Our vision of the world, and circumstances (including those of other people), does not depend on our physical eyes, but on what comes directly from God.

He lives in us, and so we should not drag ourselves along in the world as if evil had any hold on us. Heaven starts in our feet, and from there spreads upwards.

Have you not read in God's word that we are foreigners here on earth? We are citizens of heaven. We are registered there, through the glorious work of the Lord Jesus, and so our life already has no end.

This does not mean to say that what happens here does not affect us, quite the opposite. Our vision from 'on high' must lead us to get involved in really helping people with their problems, even more so when we know that life does not end with death.

'Walking on the heights' means being lifted above all the bad things, and to attract others upwards is even better.