Everyone has a natural and social cultural background. Often cultures clash through some kind of rivalry or mistrust, or they meld beautifully through mutual agreement.
Whatever our upbringing, there is a higher culture that is endorsed by God which we can all enter, and it is free.
We all come from somewhere. My background is as an islander from a very close-knit community on a small isle in the English Channel. We never lose this connection, but I also have an affinity with other cultural experiences from time spent in those communities. Culture rubs off on us, sometimes inexplicably, but it does.
It’s always best to have an open mind about the huge variety of cultures we may experience over time, and to embrace much of what each has to teach us and contribute.
Occasionally there are clashes, of course, and history is strewn with battles between competing cultures. Which is right and which is wrong, best or worse, blessed or cursed? That’s a different topic for another time.
Higher place
Whatever our background, there is a culture that is higher than them all. It is called the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God. This culture is His culture, and it is accessible to all who can believe regardless of our present standing if we are not already engaged with it.
Jesus, and John the Baptist before Him, came preaching the kingdom. He told all who would hear that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat.4:17).” It’s here. It’s right in our midst.
Surely there can be no higher culture than God’s own kingdom. Who can access this kingdom? All who will repent and draw near.
What do we mean by ‘repent?’ The word in the Greek means to change, to turn around and travel in another direction. What Jesus is saying is that we need a change of direction through a change of heart to go towards God’s will rather than away from it.
Many cultures have elements of human tradition and regulations, some religious, that work against God’s kingdom plans and ethos. Not everything is wrong with human tradition or culture, but some of it is flawed by the very nature that has turned away from God. Man’s ways are not always God’s ways. We need to change to enter and adapt to His will.
He will not ask us to completely abandon our cultural upbringing unless it works directly against the code of ethics of His predetermined kingdom principles. We will still be part of the family we are birthed into naturally, but we will enter a new and larger global family of which God is the Father of all.
Dual citizen
I entered God’s kingdom many years ago, but I still remain an island boy from the place of my birth at heart whilst being a heaven man dwelling in God’s kingdom forever from the place of my new birth. We become dual citizens.
In fact, I am a citizen of two nations on earth and of the kingdom of God in heaven. I have two earthly passports, and the heavenly passport of the guarantee of the Spirit.
I was previously a heathen with pagan tendencies who had heard of Christian principles. Then someone invited me into the kingdom of God and I embraced it wholeheartedly, and easily abandoned my previous loosely held beliefs.
I didn’t lose my identity with my birth culture, nor with aspects of the other cultures I had embraced during my earth journey. I took on a new identity in Christ. I became a follower of Jesus and an adherent of kingdom principles above all else.
I did willingly and voluntarily let go of the paganism and any other religious tendencies, because the faith of the kingdom supersedes every earthly consideration once it is understood and activated. Everyone who truly enters the kingdom of God will discover this truth.
I became a Spirit-filled disciple of Christ. My new cultural ties overcame any tendencies towards previously held religious principles. God’s kingdom is the better way.
Connections
This new culture ties all other cultures together. Everyone is invited into the kingdom of heaven. It’s interesting that the Bible teaches that people of all nations and backgrounds will worship before the throne of God when the Church is called up to be with Him.
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7:9-10
See, God still considers our tribal background as important to the community we will join when we praise Him before the throne at the end of this age. These are the multitude of born again believers who will stand before Him in heaven, praising and singing and worshiping before His presence.
This kingdom is built on better promises than we will ever find in human cultures.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1:2-3
When we come out of our previous belief system into God’s kingdom of faith we will be entering His promises. They are applicable now, in this time, in this earth, and are a downpayment of what we will see at the end of time when we enter His heavenly presence as heaven comes into contact with the earth.
A new heavens and new earth await those who believe. We will come into the New Jerusalem, which is the true home and destination of all who embrace the kingdom of heaven. It is the City of God and we are citizens.
New way
The decision to repent or allow change to take place our heart and mind will give us entry into a new way of living, including a brand new spirit which is connected to God Himself through faith.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Yes, everything is made new when we accept the free offer to enter God’s kingdom. We will still be in the earth, and connected to our previous culture, but we will be citizens of the new culture, with new things to learn, and greater opportunities available to us through connection to and covent with the kingdom of God.
If you are not yet part of this kingdom, and would like to find out how you can come into this new way of living, please download the free ebook, ‘How to be saved from everything,’ which will tell you how you can join this citizenry. Or you can pray the prayer in the link below.
Today is the day of your salvation. You are right now at the threshold of entry. A simple step will bring you in. You will become a part of this great kingdom culture without losing your roots.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 12:22-24
Welcome!
