Agents of the Future

I’m reposting something that I put up way back last year…I’ve considered it more and more…it is the crucial analogy in my life for God’s Kingdom…I’m continually returning to it’s themes. May we all…”–Brittian

(I realize that I owe the title of this entry to the name of a local worship band involved at a church called The Bridge; I have no clue if they apply the same connotations that I am suggesting…perhaps…but thank you at least for the title)

What if a visitor from the future–the distant future, where all the mysteries of living have been solved, where world peace has been established, justice reigns, the environment has been brought into balance and everything is as we imagine it ought to be–what if this time traveler, having used the latest in his advanced world’s technology, has disembodied himself and has materialized within your consciousness, in a way that you were fully able to sense and hear him?

You discover in the course of this surprising situation that the visitor has chosen you to be the agent within the present, who through living out the future reality right now, actually ushers in that awesome and desirable new day.

But of course your way of life today is completely out of step with the description of the age to come. Your values are largely different than the ones you have been chosen to portray. This presents a problem, especially in your mind.

However, the future figure is not phased by the challenge, rather he takes every opportunity by “letting you in” on what he knows that you do not. Of course, being from the future he has perspectives on everything that you could not hope to imagine on your own and so you find it quite helpful…most of the time. He nudges you every so often to say and do things more in line with his values and principles than your present ones. And occasionally your sensibilities are challenged.

Still, you notice that the more you simply trust your inward guest the more your life seems to bear the marks of that incredible future he speaks about.

You have become part of bringing the future into the present.

As this process continues you discover that you aren’t alone. Somehow the mysterious messenger has also been operating in and through many others at the same time–towards the same goal. Of course you feel a peculiar community with them, not least of which simply being your shared change in behavior and that you no longer value the things of this age but of another one. And even deeper than that you are all partaking of some inner journey that other’s don’t seem to be and this draws you closer also.

From the inside your visitor is acting as a governor and a guide–operating in much the same way as instinct would in an animal–suddenly you just know to do, say, or undertake certain things. As you choose his way of living over your own you realize that not only are you bringing about some distant hope but also you are actively participating as though it were an immediate reality!

From and for the future but also in and through the present!

You have joined or rather been joined to a radical new kingdom committed to the overthrow of the current world mind set, as it is a futile and ultimately doomed way of being! You are being spent on the instillation of a greater and impending new creation!

Now that is a remarkable fantasy, wouldn’t you say?

I get the fact that the analogy falls short in many ways, not least of which being the fact that the Spirit is operative in us more than just changing our behavior. It also fails to take into account the lover relationship or even the deep friendship. And in my mind, it also is incomplete in the sense that God is not a visitor from a distant future but actually an entirely other and transcendent dimension–and He is hardly a visitor in this realm at all, as it has been created by Him and for Him and in Him. However there are no perfect analogies and I feel this one puts into perspective many of the things the Lord is showing me these days.

What are your thoughts?