What kind of Christianity are we living out? Do we see God as angry with us? Is it our responsibility to reject everything enjoyable or else get thrown in fire when we die? Do we have to submit ourselves to unhappy fear and enslaved obedience? In the twelfth century, Saint Francis of Assisi founded an order of friars who took on an ascetic lifestyle of poverty, free from every worldly pleasure, in order to better serve God. While this was commendable, is this to be expected of all of us? Or, rather, is the life of a believer a life of joy?
It is good news of the highest degree that we are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Our homeland is a kingdom not of wrath, but of perfect, everlasting, joyful love! We repent and obey not because of hell, but because of heaven our home! Compare that glorious truth with God’s relationship with his people during the time of Moses. Because Israel was still an evil people, they were estranged from God, and the fearful spectacle of his holiness was too terrifying for them to handle. They could only know God their savior through darkness. Not so with us; now the light of the world has come, we are declared righteous, and we may join the angels in joyfully singing our God’s praises!
Don’t misunderstand: God does not change. He didn’t transition from an angry God to a kind God. He has always been a God of perfect justice, perfect mercy, and perfect love. But we as sinners deserve to face his glory only through his justice, while we as citizens of the kingdom of heaven, redeemed by the blood of Christ, get to experience his glory through his full love and mercy as well. If anything has changed, it’s us—by Jesus’ work on the cross.
I’ve found that many nonbelievers today reject the faith because they see Christianity as a religion of darkness and gloom. To an extent, that’s our fault; sometimes we ourselves see it that way too. But we are citizens of a kingdom, not slaves to a taskmaster. We repent and obey because of heaven, not hell. So as we share the gospel with the world, we should point not to Mount Sinai, where God gave the Law from a frightful cloud, but to Mount Zion. We are identified by grace, glory, righteousness, and joy, and that’s the kingdom that the world desperately needs.
