Changing addresses

TODAY'S READING: 1 Peter 1:13-25
Imagine someone came to you and told you that your house was going to be demolished. But since that was going to happen, you were offered a house that was ten times bigger. If your bedroom is 12x12 now, it will be 35x35 in the new house. Your kitchen might be the size of the old house. The fridge will contain every food you like. The TV will be the size of a movie theater screen.
But for some reason you keep going back to the old house. Even though you are not sure when the destruction will happen, you still go back and hang out there. The power has been shut off, but you still look in the fridge for something to eat. There are no lights, but you stumble around in the darkness.
You do go to your new house a couple times a week. You never really stay that long, but you want people in the new neighborhood to know you live there. It's more of a status thing than really living there though.
Does this all sounds crazy? Would you live like that? Well, I have seen plenty of people who do.
They have been warned that this world is doomed for destruction. They have been offered a much better place to live. But they need to be willing to move there now. The Kingdom of God is not just heaven.
The Kingdom of God is something that is very real is this world. It is where God wants us to move to in this life. But so many of us are content to continue to return to the house of sin. We know there is a better place, but we find comfort in the old, dark place. We do stumble around. but for some reason we can't get away.
God's call for us is clear. And Peter describes it well. We are called to be holy. We must leave the old behind and be careful not to slip back into our old place.
This requires self-control. It means there must be real effort.
But maybe you think it's too hard. It means you have to lose friends or risk your reputation. There may have to be a change in the way you talk or treat others. You may have to let go of some possessions or attitudes.
But don't you think it was pretty hard for God to pay the price for our new place? It wasn't bought with silver or gold. He paid for it with His very own Son. The blood that bought you and me a place in eternity was from heaven itself. God was willing to do that because He wants you and me. He suffered so that we wouldn't have to. His Son died so that we could live with Him forever.
But life in God's presence doesn't start on the day we die. It starts here and now. It means leaving the old address where sin and evil live and moving to the kingdom where Jesus lives. It requires us to leave behind the old life that is headed to death and destruction. And in the process we are to become new people with a new attitude and a new way of life. Are you trying to live in both
places? More often than not, the neighbors in the old place will bring you down and keep you there. Have you made the move yet? If not, it's time to head to a better neighborhood.

shine!
Jason