On Earth As It Is In Heaven

A poignant part of Jesus’ (“The Lord’s”) Prayer:

“Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven...”

~Matthew 6:10 (NRSV).

This part of the Lord’s Prayer is about merging realms and realities — heaven and earth — as far as that’s possible. Yes, it’s not Jesus’ will for us to sit back and muse all day, every day, about the wondrous vision of heaven, but to replicate the Father’s will as would be seen up there, here.

The saved life is constantly at odds with this eternal tension; earth not a shrill cry of heaven.

Yet, frustration — though it swarms — isn’t to become us. The howling dog next door is put there by the Lord. Do we berate it or endure it? What would the angels and elders in heaven do, or have us do?

Progress, Not Perfection

Still, the tension remits over us. We desire to bring heaven here, but we’ll always fall short — personally and interpersonally. None of us can live up to such an ideal for long.

It shouldn’t stop us trying, however.

Imagining Heaven – Replicating It

Jesus is set not only on upturning the tables of the money-changers in the temple, but those of ours too. Our tables are party to forgery and corruption as well! Let me explain.

Heaven, truth be known, would confront us — especially our biases. We all have them.

How, truly, would the despised minorities be treated in heaven? We say we accept them, but some we implicitly struggle with. Yet, heaven’s love has no bounds.

This is a challenge to each one of us, for heaven will be unlike anything we’ve ever seen or expected. It’s a place for praise, sure, but that’s assuming we’ve made the threshold transformation so we’re ready to praise, for the rest of eternity! Seems difficult to reconcile from here, doesn’t it?

“YOUR Will be Done”

Finding the heart of God’s will is the secret to this part of the Lord’s Prayer.

That is heaven: the discernment and achievement of God’s will. The Kingdom comes to earth at the achievement of the Lord’s will.

There’s no barrier to the Lord’s will in heaven, and there shouldn’t be any barrier here either. But, we shudder. We know how difficult it’ll be achieving it here, in the flesh.

If we take out all other variables, we find ourselves in the palm of God’s hand. What will we do? Awareness is the first portion; the commitment to action, the second.

It’s up to us.

We’re the ones bringing heaven to earth — us and nobody else, as far as we’re concerned.

Heaven in a moment. That’s what we’re capable of. What does God want?

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.