I'll post it here again today. If anyone has any thoughts on this, feel free to share them. If not, I'll try to think of something much more profound and meaningful to spur discussion! :)
What is the real world?
Since moving to Johnson City, I have become a little more acquainted with the area: its unique customs, its interesting history—all the things that make Johnson City what it is. Every city and town has certain qualities in a certain combination that make up its personality and identity.
I recently overheard a student sharing about his inevitable return to university after Christmas holidays. He said, “Yeah, I have to go back to the real world.” In other words, “Vacation isn’t the normal world; it’s not the normal pace of life. Hard work and stress and conflict is the real world.” This got me thinking: How do we know what the ‘real world’ really is? Why is stress and conflict the real world? Could the world of stress and conflict, just as easily, be the fake world that we live in?
Some of you are thinking: “Just wait till he’s lived a little longer! He’ll know what the real world is!” And there is some truth to that. But here’s my point: We don’t get to decide what the real world is. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” God wants to give us a new world to live in. Just like Johnson City has its own history and customs, its own struggles and personality, so does God want to show us a world with its own history and traditions; customs and practices; personality and flavor. This is the world of his Kingdom. God is about bringing his Kingdom—a new city, a new world. And if God is doing this, then I think it time we called his Kingdom the real world.
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2 comments:
Hi friends. I've been thinking about this one...
when I think of the "real world" for me I think of my job and working with young adults who are basically homeless, couch surfing, working the streets or the very isolated ones in rural life living in trailors in remote places...I'm not sure which is worse...
My "safe" world becomes when I put the key in my door at the end of the day, my husband, children, church...
How wonderful to be able to blend these two worlds...and God could and knows the way..
ap, one of the nicest things anyone ever said to me at church was when you told me I was doing ministry every day. I hold that thought close...thanks...
the challenge is to find the beauty of God in the "real" world and He is there and working if we let Him.
I know this is "out there" and perhaps not even answer to your question...I still need to process and hope and believe that I am being used effectively and spreading His light for Kingdom use..
Hi AW,
You have hit on something profound--the mixture of worlds. We even mix who we are as people depending on what "world" we are in!
Part of the reason I say that the "real world" is the world as God defines it--and what will eventually be revealed as God's kingdom. The reason what you do can be and should be called **ministry** is because what you do witnesses to the world God is bringing.
this always makes me think about 1 Cor. 3 where Paul says that if we build on the foundation laid by Jesus, our work will last for eternity. think about that!
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