On September 10, 2001 the world didn’t necessarily seem like such a great place, but in retrospect I guess it wasn’t really all that bad. On that day the twin towers still stood as symbols of American strength and supremacy. How things have changed since that time!

How I wish that 9/11 had never happened! I know other factors are involved, but it seems as though the crisis of that terrible day triggered a chain reaction of so many painful and distasteful events.

Humans have this natural tendency to glamorize the past. “Those were the days!” And while the past may have certainly been better in many ways, the glory of Christ’s kingdom will be found only in the future. To continue to reach back, desperately trying to hold onto or recover what once was, will only serve to blind us to what can be.

There is something about human nature that needs to be in control. We want things the way we want them. This conflicts deeply with allowing God to have His way in our lives—unless of course we assume that God thinks exactly the way we do.

I mean, wouldn’t God want things to return to a pre-9/11 state? Or maybe He’d want to go back further to the 1950’s? How about the 1800’s? Perhaps even the days when Christ walked this earth?

It all sounds rather foolish when you take the time to think it through. Without question, the best option is to keep moving forward, looking toward a Day that far surpasses anything the past has ever known.

The longer I walk this earth the more I come to realize how little it has to offer. In contrast, the kingdom of God is so much more meaningful than I once thought. The Daniel passage from my last post carries such a sense of anticipation!

In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed—a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of even the greatest of human empires. Not a trace of them will remain. But God’s kingdom will become a large mountain that fills the entire earth, standing supreme forever and ever.”

But aren’t global issues becoming increasingly ugly and more complex? Absolutely! It is the unavoidable nature of our times. But God’s grace always rises to meet the need, no matter how dire. According to kingdom dynamics, the greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity.

Lesser man-made kingdoms are being supplanted and replaced by the greater. If our eyes are riveted on what once was, we’ll miss the incredible good that God has planned for today.

We can’t go back! Much better to let go of what was and press on to an everlasting hope, than to be stuck in the past, complaining about how far our nation has strayed from its roots.

photo credit: Pete Bellis via cc