OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME, YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN (MATTHEW 6:9-10).
TODAY’S DEVOTION
God’s big idea was to reproduce the Kingdom of Heaven in the visible realm by planting a Kingdom outpost on the Earth and populating it with Kingdom citizens who would govern according to Kingdom government, live according to Kingdom culture, and expand Kingdom influence until it filled and transformed the Earth. Politically speaking, the term for this kind of governmental expansion is colonization. As a Kingdom outpost on Earth, Eden was a colony of Heaven established by a righteous, just, and benevolent King who is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love (see Ps. 103:8).
(God’s Big Idea, Chapter One)
CONSIDERATIONS
1. List the four similarities between Heaven and Eden before the Fall.
2. Why did God create the Earth before creating Adam?
3. Why is it essential for a nation to share a common language?
4. Without laws, a constitution, and moral convictions what does a nation consist of?
5. Common values bind a nation together—why?
MEDITATION
That is still God’s big idea—and His purpose for today. God is still in the horticultural business. All Kingdom citizens share a common call and commission from their King to be royal gardeners, sowing seeds and planting “gardens” of Kingdom culture and government throughout the world until “the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14 KJV).
(God’s Big Idea, Chapter One)
Are you willing to become a royal gardener, or are you too comfortable with the way things are? What would change your mind?