Heaven minded vs. Earthly minded

Habakkuk 2:14 says, "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."  Now, the earth is already filled with God's glory according to Isaiah 6:3.  It's just that not everyone knows it yet.  That's a no brainer statement considering we all can probably think of several people we know personally who are unaware of what God is doing on the earth.  
That is what makes Habakkuk 2:14 so profound though.  The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.  Meaning, everybody's going to know about it!  Everybody is going to be aware of God's glory being manifested on the planet.  Not just the church, and not just a select few, but the whole earth!  How do the waters cover the sea?  Completely!  The world in its entirety will know that God's glory is present on the earth!  


Now here's the thing.  I refuse to believe that this is meant to be reserved for the millennium.  One key reason being that Habakkuk doesn't say that the world will be filled with the acknowledgement of the glory of the Lord.  It simply says knowledge.  At the end of this age, like Romans describes in chapter 14 verse 11, "It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me;every tongue will acknowledge God.’”


So what's the difference?  Let's use an example.  Say your ex boyfriend/girlfriend who you had a rough breakup with a week earlier walks into the same room as you.  Chances are that within a split second of you recognizing their presence, your back is turned to avoid eye contact.  What happened?  You realized they entered the room (knowledge), but you avoided acknowledging their presence.  


At the end of this age, the glory of the Lord on the earth will drive everyone to acknowledge who He is (every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess).  No such action is described in Habakkuk as a result of knowing of the glory of God on the earth.  Which leads me to think that even though all will be aware of it, there will be those who are drawn to relationship with Him, but also those who refuse to acknowledge His presence.  Those who turn to greet Him as he enters the room, and those who turn their back refusing to acknowledge He walked in.  


Now with that understanding, read Habakkuk 2:14 again through a lens of faith.  Something should be stirring up inside of you.  The earth is filled with the glory of God, but the world doesn't know it?  Wait a minute.  There are those in the world who are yet to know how good God is?  There are people who haven't encountered the glory and the perfect goodness of the Lord?  Something must be done!


That's where we, the believers come in, and that's where being heavenly minded becomes absolutely crucial.  


Too many Christians are focused on the things pertaining to the first heaven (earth).  For example, so many Christians still believe that despite what Jesus accomplished on the cross, they are still sinners; when in reality we are saints.  One can't be a saint and a sinner at the same time.  Psalm 50:5 defines saints as those who made a covenant with God through sacrifice.  Because of Jesus' sacrifice that established the new covenant, that is every believer.  It is perfectly legal for a believer to no longer consider him/herself a sinner because God calls us saints.  We are in a covenant with Him and Jesus provided the sacrifice.  (I'll write another blog dedicated to describing this better sometime in the future)


Why is this important?  After all, isn't it humbling to acknowledge the frailty of our humanity?  It might appear to be humbling, but it won't make you a world changer.  Habakkuk 2:14 is talking about the entire world knowing about what God is doing on the earth.  Bringing this about will require the saints on the earth to focus on things that are above, and not below.  I'm sorry, but if you are constantly mindful of your sin, you are limiting what you can experience , to what is possible in the natural realm.  And the only way to bring the entire world into encountering God's glory is through supernatural intervention.  It's only through Heaven invading earth through the partnership we have with God the Father in ministering to the world, that they will know of his goodness.  Everyone on this planet is only one God encounter away from coming to acknowledge Him for who He is.  How can we ascribe to bring the Kingdom of Heaven with us to encounter people if we're still wrapped up in our sins, problems, and imperfections.  That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 6 to consider yourselves dead to sin.  Think higher!  


The bottom line is that Habakkuk 2:14 should be a goal for every believer.  A Christian should read that and say, "I will give my life to see this come to pass."  And the only way we can assist in this glorious assignment is to abandon all other ways of thinking that are not from heaven.  It starts with realizing who God says we as individuals are.  Sinners saved by grace won't change the world, but saints walking in the full power and authority they were destined to walk in will draw nations to the One they desire (Haggai 2:7). That's heavenly minded thinking.  Agreeing with what God says.  He says "On earth as it is in Heaven," we say, "I purpose to live to see Heaven invade earth in my life."  He says, " As the Father sent me, now I send you," we say, "Lord I accept the assignment you gave me; to destroy the works of the devil." 


It's not that complicated.  Faith actualizes what it realizes.  Faith sees the heavenly realm and forces it into manifestation on earth.  The only way to accomplish this is to know what the Kingdom of Heaven is like.  Only then can we accurately bring it to earth and as a result, see the world marvel as we present them with the goodness of God.  The whole world is dying to know how good God is.  Jesus is the desire of nations.  Everybody wants a King like King Jesus.  Let's not let them down.