You ain’t seen nothin’ yet (Pt 2)

If you trust the Bible, you’ve got even more reason to expect this. It doesn’t describe the Christian life as ‘become a Christian, be good til you die, go to heaven’. It describes a journey of growing up ourselves, and of bringing heaven to earth. As well as the ‘new start’ images, there are many of gradual progression. ‘The kingdom is like a mustard seed... the kingdom is like yeast...’

This is really good news because it means all those things I see in the Bible, love, wish I could see in my life, and haven’t... people getting healed from serious illness when I pray for them, hearing God tell me thing about people I couldn’t know so I can help them, teleportation (Acts 8)... are not actually closed to me forever, just something that special people or Africans get to do. They’re just something I haven’t experienced yet.

What this does do is put the responsibility back on us. If I believe that I won’t ever experience more of the Father’s love, I’ll not ask him for it, not make time for him to give me that experience. If I believe he won’t ever heal anyone through me, I won’t pray for people and so he won’t get the chance. If I believe there is no God, I won’t look out for evidence that he’s working, listen to friends who believe otherwise, or take any of the many ways most people who have ever lived have used to check him out (praying, reading ‘holy books’ etc.) And I might miss out on the very thing I long for.

Because of what I think the Bible is saying on this, and the logic of new experiences in general, I’m not going to give up on my dreams. I can even take on new challenges at work and in life with a reason to be confident that they will actually work out.

If you catch that thought, squash it and throw it in the bin. There is always more for us than we have experienced. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.