Living in the Overlap

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24

We live on the overlap. God holds a fabric emblazoned with three-dimensional patterns of iridescent colors set against a field of purest white. At its very edge He permits a brief overlap by the enemy’s bleak and repulsive fabric. The two textiles stretch side-by-side, one hem overlying the other. We live between the two edges, on the overlap. Only in death do we move fully onto one fabric or the other. One is heaven, the other hell. Our interim existence resembles paradise as much as it does the lake of fire. We walk within the mere margins of both realities. One day the two will fly from one another. Where we stand about Christ will determine which fabric becomes our eternal home.

Here on the mixed fringes we enjoy hints of spiritual gifts fully available to those who have stepped beyond onto the bright cloth. Love, joy, peace; we witness muddy hints of the luminescent graces in which they are saturated. In meditation and worship we tread right up to the barrier and are filled with joy and power to bless others. Wherever we walk the life layer is pressed into contact with the death layer. Those adopted in Christ leave a spray of life-blossoms with each footprint. By this anointing, others are enticed to seek the layer of light.

Prayer: Gracious Father, grant us discernment to separate Your cloth from the enemy’s. Beautiful Jesus, flow the rainbow-colors of Your fabric into our margin, into the grey overlap beneath our feet. Sweet Spirit, sing from Your kingdom of light. Sing power into us to heal, bless, and proclaim truth. Holy Trinity, may Your will be done, through us, on the overlap as it is in heaven.