From BobHamp.com

It is our own misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission and message that has us continually needing to release the next update of “church”. Cultural relevance, whether it is an adjustment to the Reformation or to Post-Modernism should never be the target. If cultural relevance must be the target then let’s define the culture rightly. To what culture should we be conforming? The edgy new culture that is arriving on the scene? The traditional culture which many find difficult to release? Here is how Jesus would answer this question.

“When you pray, pray like this; Our Father (Source, Origin) in Heaven (Whose culture is the Spiritual realm) hallowed be Your Name (You belong at the center of all things). Your Kingdom come (may the culture of the Heavenly Realm, the Presence of your Nature, be the thing that we conform to) your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven (please be the shaping and transforming power that restores to earth and all its inhabitants, the original design of creation).

Because the Knowledge of Good and Evil has shaped our understanding and perceptual pathways we associate God with the Traditions from which we are trying to extricate ourselves, instead of associating Him with the Life-Giving encounters the whole world is starved for.

God heartily invites us to spend our day moving in His life-soaked presence. We fear He wants us to give up fun stuff. God urges us to let go of the things which choke our soul. We fear He wants to control us. God offers us a connection to the very Force that brought all things into existence. We fear He wants us to be slaves.

Listen again this week to the teachings of Jesus. Though He occasionally instructed us about navigating the Earth-realm; overwhelmingly, the bulk of His teaching had much more to do with the Nature and Availability of the Heavenly Realm. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” is not a statement which introduces institutional principles. It is the beginning of a description of a place that He has been and we have not. It is the description of a place that is available to us in our day to day lives.

Let’s not change what the church does again. Let’s change instead, where we operate from.

From BobHamp.com

Jesus made this all-important statement in His very first sermon: “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” “These things”, that he refers to, that will be added to you are the concerns of life; our family, our finances, the details of our existence. “These things” will be taken care of if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Through the filters, we read this. Try hard to do what God says and He will reward you with the things of life. Be good and your life will work out the way you want. This most common misconception of religion leads many to great disappointment, disillusionment and even resentment towards God. It even keeps many away from Him.

Read again, “Seek first the Kingdom of God…” You see, we all have something we “seek first.” It is the thing toward which most of our time energy, attention, and even resources are directed. “Seeking first” simply refers to that which is of highest value to us, and therefore has most of our attention.

We all have some “thing” that we seek first. Whatever that thing is, it becomes the thing that organizes the rest of my life. If I seek first my marriage, everything in my life is ordered around my marriage. If I seek first financial gain, everything in my life is organized around money. Jesus is simply describing a principle of reality. Whatever I seek first organizes every other facet of my life. Now watch.

If I seek first relief from frustration, the things that frustrate me are given power to organize all the other aspects of my life. If I seek first relief from pain, my pain now becomes the organizing principle of my life. Don’t blink here… If I seek first my freedom, my desires becomes the organizing factor in my life.

Jesus was telling us if we learn to make the Kingdom of God our first pursuit, that our frustrations, our money, our pain, and even our freedom will be organized by God’s Kingdom. Seeking first the meeting of your needs will ultimately put you at the center of your life, the very thing that got the human race in trouble in the first place.

From BobHamp.com

They are just too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.

Have you heard that saying before?  Or do you know someone about whom you have said or thought this?

Never forget this;  Heaven is really good for Earth.  The statement above is a contradiction and shows our misunderstanding of reality as described by the One Person who has resided in both Heaven and Earth.  If we understand what Jesus demonstrates for us regarding the Location and the Atmosphere of Heaven we would recognize that this statement describes an impossibility.

Jesus was clear on every occasion about the location of Heaven.  The Kingdom of Heaven has come near, it is among us now.  Our western idea that Heaven is a cloud filled, future destination is a significant reason why  people think one can be too Heavenly minded.  The implication is that such a person has their mind elsewhere, and is therefore unable to take care of here and now.  No one took better care of here and now than Jesus Himself.  Sick?  He healed right then.  Anxious?  He directed the mind right back to the immediate provision of a loving Father.  Right here right now.  A Heaven which is not yet could be a significant disruption to one’s earthly impact.  The right-here-right-now-ness of Heaven makes it a resource you cannot live without.

The atmosphere of such a realm could only be consistent with the Generator of this realm.  The atmosphere of Heaven is the Nature of God.  He is Love, He is Life (aliveness), He is power for the weak, and He is all-things-restored.  He is Peace, He is Joy, He is Contentment.  Should I go on?

So help me figure out how the Nearness of Love and Life could be of no earthly good?  How being surrounded by palpable Peace could not be of any value?

Jesus said, “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”.  Here is how we must come to understand “Think Differently, the Rule of the Atmosphere of God’s Presence is among men again.”  Heaven is really good for Earth.  Think differently, inhale deeply, be restored.  Now exhale, restore those around you.