You've heard the expression "he's so heavenly minded that he's no earthly good." Yesterday as I was praying through the third petition of the Lord's Prayer ('your will be done on earth as in heaven') a different kind of prayer came to mind: "Lord make me so very heavenly minded that I am of great earthly good."
This is what Jesus talks about when he says the kingdom of heaven is at hand. God's kingdom life is immediately available to you and me here on earth - and extends into eternity. But the kingdom life in Jesus Christ isn't some sort of private head/soul trip. Rather it's living in the cross-hairs where earthly and heavenly realities intersect. It was precisely in Jesus' heavenly mindedness that the sick were healed, the lame walked, the blind saw, the hungry fed, and prisoners were set free.
