This World

This World

Reading: Revelation 15-18 7 “Why are you so amazed?” the angel asked. “I will tell you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns. 8 The beast you saw was alive but isn’t now. And yet he will soon come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction. And the people who belong to this world, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from before the world began, will be amazed at the reappearance of this beast who had died. (Revelation 17:7-8 NLT) The phrase “The people who belong to this world” really jumped out at me this morning as I read through these chapters of Revelation. It seems that in every generation, there are people who belong to this world and people who belong to eternity.

I think that which world someone belongs to is determined largely by what one chooses to value. Jesus challenged his followers to let go of this world and invest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Paul writes about the carnal and the spiritual nature, and how those two natures battle for control of our desires, ambitions, and actions. I don’t want to live like someone who belongs to this world. I belong to another world. I want God to transform and adjust me on the inside, so that I think and speak and act like an “other-worlder,” and so I invest my life and energy and gifts in the Kingdom of Heaven. I believe that the vision John saw was a picture of how things really turn out. I believe God wins and Satan loses. I believe that the things of this world are temporary and the things of God’s Kingdom are eternal. I believe my name is written in the Book of Life, and that I will live forever in God’s World. I want my life in this world to show that I belong to the world to come—the world that lasts forever.

Friends, we belong to another world! Let’s live by the values of that world! Prayer: Father, Thanks for reminding me that I don’t belong to this world. I’m only here for a little while and then I’ll be with you in the other world forever. I believe this. Please help me to live in this world like I believe that I belong to the other world. Amen!