Taking it seriously but not literally... Part 1 (of potentially many)!

Whilst listening to an amazing sermon being preached over the summer of 2005 on the subject of the book of Revelation, the visiting preacher said, "Take it seriously but don't take it leterally". I like this expression, and it certainly links well into hermaneutics - that is, taking the Bible within the culture of the time it was written in, which means taking into account context, the people being written to, culture, to name a few things. It also means that we must then review again within the culture, etc. of our own time, immediate environment, and so on, in order that we may gain the best insight that we can to the meaning of this within a today context.

Anyhow, hoping that makes sense, I will launch into part of the letter of 1 John, and in particular, chapter 3 to something I was reading and thinking about yesterday:

(v10) The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters.

NRSV

This passage began getting me thinking about God's kingdom - His kingship - His reign on this earth - the now and not yet.
We will be perfected in Him - we are being perfected in Him - yet we are not fully at our human potential. Part of us is still acting within the super-structure of this world, although we are already God's. Just because we work for God one minute and then do something against Him another, doesn't meant that God and Satan are continually swapping ownership of us. If we have faith in Christ, that is enough - we are God's. We just ain't quite sorted yet. But that takes time, and time we have - most of us get one shot at life on this earth before we are transformed to be like him completely. Live life to the fullest and do the best that you can today - let tomorrow worry about itself when it becomes today. And tomorrow, let today's troubles and turmoils will be yesterday's - history which we can learn and change from.