What the modern evangelical has done is to place all his efforts in the “I am going to heaven” basket while forgetting the “on earth as it is in heaven” basket. The result of this is the catastrophic overemphasis on one dimension of salvation and an underemphasis on the bigger salvific plan God has for the world.
The Bible speaks of the importance of personal salvation, but not as the end all, but the first of all. In other words, personal salvation means immediate incorporation into the work of God in the world. God’s earth is to imitate the quality of life in heaven. This heavenly life cannot be fulfilled unless we look into the entire premise of salvation which is to place a man into a new war-zone. Before he fought for a serpent-king, but now he fights for a savior-king. And this king is eager to see this world made into the glory of the next. Heaven, then, is a glorious resting place. The new heavens and earth is our eternal dwelling place. Our work now is to work as redeemed humanity for that reality in every area of our lives.
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