There are many unseen but real threats, but there are also unseen but real promises, and he who makes them says, “Behold, I am coming soon”
(Revelation 22:12).
Stuart McAllister  August 6, 2009 Slice of Infinity devotional from Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

What kinds of threats are unseen? Unseen in the sense that they are insidious, infiltrating our thinking without our conscious awareness? I think about American entitlement–the sense that we deserve the high standard of living we've enjoyed for the past fifty years. In one sense, we do, because we, as a culture, have worked hard and been full of energy and invention and productivity.

In another sense, though, there is the unfairness of hogging the resources of the world. That some of us cook on stoves while others cook on a ground fire is wrong. It is the way the world has been since the Fall, so it seems normal to us. Yes, the issues are enormous and political and complex, but it's still wrong. Entitlement threatens justice.

What real promises are we ignoring as we attempt to hold on to our materialism? I want to hold things lightly. I certainly enjoy cooking on my Kenmore stove rather than a wood fire in my backyard. And yet, why do I have that privilege while so many work much harder to prepare food for their children?

The lighter my grasp on this world's privileges, the tighter my grasp on what's coming. Recently, as Jerry and I admired Lake Michigan waterfront mansions, I said to him,

"If I did not believe in the Kingdom, I'd be jealous. I'd want to work for a cottage by the sea."

It is getting more and more real to me that the Kingdom both has come and is coming to this earth. That what God has in mind, that which is beyond our imagination, is this life, made new. (Isaiah 65:17) This life, where we all live in mansions by the sea. This life, fully submitted to our good and faithful Father. For his glory and our joy.

Maranatha, Jesus. Come. In your time, in your way, in accord with your purposes. Amen.