June 7

“When the apostle Paul encouraged the believers in Corinth to help the Christians in Jerusalem, he promised them that if they would sow generously, they would reap a generous return from God.  The truth holds life-changing potential for us.  If we invest everything we have in our relationship with God, we will experience the full dimensions of being children of God.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 6/7

This “investment” is what the exchanged life is all about. When you go to a foreign country you exchange your country’s currency for their currency.  When we enter the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ we must exchange our earthly currency for heavenly currency; otherwise, we’ll live an impoverished life in our new home.  I didn’t do this.  Instead, as I’ve traveled through the Kingdom of God since my salvation I’ve used my earthly currency--my self-sufficiency--to sustain my life.  It’s always cost me more, though, because of the different valuation.  And I depleted my purse quickly.  I had to work extra hard to replenish my currency--but since I couldn’t earn heavenly currency I just ended up with more earthly currency.   Occasionally I’d find a “bank” and exchanged my earthly currency for heavenly currency because I’d seen something that I could only get with heavenly currency.  It was always worth the effort, but these “banks” were few and far between.  I finally came to realize that in order for us to travel freely through the Kingdom of God we really must exchange all our old currency for the new currency as soon as we arrive.  It’s only then that we will experience the full dimension of being a citizen of God’s Kingdom.

“And Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.’” Matthew 19:23