Everyday Christianity: First Things (1)
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6.33, 34
Permanent things
These are changing times. I suspect people in every generation have felt that way, and, in their own context, they were probably right.
But the pace of change in our day is accelerating, as if time were going faster than we are, so that we struggle to keep up with all the changes, or even to know whether they’re good or bad. What am I to do with all those pennies? My smart phone is no longer smart enough. AI intrudes everywhere, offering help and suggestions and spelling out the words before I can even type them. Everybody’s a drone pilot. Faraway wars mean here-and-now changes in purchasing power. There’s even talk of eliminating Daylight Savings Time, since the pace of things is destroying the illusion that we can save time at all.
But we humans are creatures who need permanence. We can live with a certain amount of change, but only so much. We want solid ground under our feet, reliable air to breathe and water to drink, food on the table, a solid retirement account, and a steady flow of affordable diversions to choose from.
Yet even such reasonable expectations can fail at times, and then where are we?
Permanence is one aspect of Christianity that should appeal to everyone. A Savior Who is with us always. Life forever. A coming day of no more sorrows and no more tears. A Kingdom not of this world. An unchanging God to watch over us and a steadfastly reliable Word to direct our paths. Things permanent that are sufficient to sustain us through whatever a day may bring. Christians are the possessors of all that is truly and most importantly permanent, things so far ahead of the fast pace of mere time that they can never be permanently affected by it.
And we are called to bring that permanence into our world. Whoever we are, wherever we live, whatever we do, we who believe in Jesus are the bearers of permanence in the form of precious and very great promises, divinely-empowered grace, and a Savior/King Who is even now about the business of making all things new (2 Pet. 1.4; 2 Cor. 4.15; Rev. 21.5).
Christians serve the God Who oversees all change and secures all the permanence we need. And we are citizens of His Kingdom, heirs of His salvation, and disciples of His Son. The pace of change in our fast-paced world can never rob us of these realities.
But we can affect the course and nature of change. One day, one situation at a time.
Afflictions and mere time
The Kingdom of God, into which all who believe in Jesus have been transferred from the mad pace of merely temporal existence (Col. 1.13), is a realm of unchanging and increasing righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14.17, 18). To the extent that we make good use of our citizenship, we find power to overcome all obstacles and setbacks that we experience in what we might call mere time. Mere time constitutes our existence in the changeable world, where we are subject to the same pace and changes our non-Christian neighbors experience.
And this can mean that we experience many sorts of afflictions in mere time. But the apostle Paul assures us this is normal, and our Kingdom citizenship is sufficient to help us through affliction into ever broader horizons and experiences of Kingdom life (Acts 14.22).
In the Kingdom of God, time does not race away from us; rather, we redeem the time God gives us and do everything for His glory (Eph. 5.15-17; 1 Cor. 10.31). Change does not lead us to fret or become anxious when afflictions come. It summons us to give thanks for all that is permanent in our life and to seek mercy and grace sufficient for whatever a day may bring (Phil. 4.6, 7; Heb. 4.16).
And here is what might seem like a paradox: Christians, heirs of eternal life and citizens in a Kingdom not of this world, live eternal life one day at a time. Eternity in mere time, that mere time may be refurbished with eternal beauty, goodness, truth, and hope.
Retooling time for the priorities and adornments of eternity is the calling of every believer in Christ.
One day at a time
The challenge to us is thus to learn how best to live one day at a time. Sufficient for each day is the evil that it brings, which means that, whatever that evil may be, we who know Jesus Christ can have grace more than sufficient for it (2 Cor. 12.9).
But we must seek the Kingdom of God today and in all our time and activities. To seek the Kingdom is to enter its power to transform us into the very image of Jesus Christ—the quintessential example of eternity redeeming time—and make our every endeavor an expression of the presence, promise, and power of the eternal domain. Bringing permanent things into impermanence, solidity into flux, transforming grace into disillusionment and disappointment, and true hope into mere wishes.
And in this study of “Everyday Christianity” we will consider what our calling to the Kingdom and glory of God and the Presence of Jesus Christ can be like one day at a time and how, as we are faithful in it, we can participate in bringing more of heaven into the mere time of our world.
For reflection or discussion
1. What do we mean by “mere time”? What is the source of this time? How can we redeem it?
2. Why does knowing some permanence matter? In what ways does the Gospel bring permanence into a life?
3. What are some areas of your everyday life where you need to realize more of the permanence of the Kingdom of God?
Next Steps—Preparation: Have you mapped out your Personal Mission Field? Watch this brief video and download the Personal Mission Field worksheet. This is an important First Thing for your everyday life in Christ.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
This week: Our Read Moore podcast begins readings from the book, Patrick: A Devotional History. In our Crosfigell teaching letter, we are studying examples of the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. And in the daily Scriptorium column we are working our way through the Gospel of Matthew. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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