"To make the improving of our own character our central aim is hardly the highest kind of goodness. True goodness forgets itself and goes out to do the right thing for no other reason than that it is right."
Lesslie Newbigin
Though we are rooted in the here and now, we are always looking to the there and then. Throughout the Gospels Jesus speaks of a new kind of community living in harmony with each other and sharing extravagantly with those around us. Why do we see, let alone experience, so little of it in our communities and churches? Squabbles, gossip and power struggles are characteristics of the anti-community and thus the anti-heaven. In a world filled with anti-community focused people, small groups/clubs / associations form to protect their rights, insist on their ideology and fight for limited resources. Given time, because it is their nature to do so, these groups eventually turn on themselves and each individual struggles to protect their own identity and power rather than submit to a purpose bigger than themselves, because, of course, they cannot conceive let alone submit to something bigger than themselves. Hell, then, ultimately leads to loneliness, isolation and bitterness. Eternity spent remember how you've been wronged. You see this from time to time in our world, it is a foretaste if you will of what kind of life that waits for all who choose it, intentionally or by ignorance. Hell is a choice. Community, on the other hand, is driven by an overwhelming sense of gratitude and humility for something bigger than themselves that is characteristic of a mature spirit and forgiveness. “Not my will but Thy will be done,” is their mantra but is only possible with faith and humility. In a world like this, what is there let to fight about? Love Wins! Do not all these squabbles we hear so much of these days sound just like children at play each wanting their turn, their way, their needs met? Spiritual maturity creates community precisely because the individual is secure in their identity and the abundance of God. No one who insists on their rights can stand it in a world where "rights" have no meaning and so they choose the anti-community willingly. When people leave a church, for example, because of their needs, preferences or position in the church was not to their liking, they freely chose the anti-community. Wherever you find grumbling, clichés and gossip in the here and now you’ll find hell on earth looking to attract more members. Where you find compassion, gentleness and giving you'll find heaven breaking in like sunshine through a rain cloud with a glimpse of true community. (1) Which group do you find yourself in most of the time? Is it because you’re most comfortable there? Why? (2) Which characteristics are you learning, practicing and be tested in? (3) Are you choosing heaven or simply resigned to hell? (4) Do you agree or disagree that Hell is an attitude you freely choose intentionally or by ignorance?Email Subscription: