Up is good, and down is bad. Right?
Oh, sure, we can find good things if we dig in the earth. Fantastic caves, majestic and otherworldly. Diamonds, gold, and oil. Those three alone are some of the most highly valued items in our modern world.
Yet, if we want to build a house, one to live out our days, where do we search, an underground warren or a hillside location with vistas as far as the eye can see?
We want views, line-of-sight, mountains in the distance, not someone else’s basement wall, or worse yet, an expanse of dirt or rock.
Underground houses are all the rage, some exclaim. They are energy efficient and easy to maintain. Yet, these same enthusiasts extol the ones packed with skylights and walls of windows that open off to one side. Even under the earth, no matter how beautifully our rooms are appointed, we want what’s up pulled down to join us in the ground. We want our underground home opened to the sky.
In the original Star Wars trilogy, the planet Bespin was a gas giant of a planet that was uninhabitable except for one livable layer in the atmosphere consisting of an oxygen mix breathable to humans. Cloud City was a magnificent metropolis suspended by an anti-gravity pod enabling it to float just high enough to stay in that breathable layer.
Cloud City was splendid, the stuff of dreams, and the only viable option on the planet Bespin.
What is our Cloud City? On earth, here, today? What’s the Cloud City we aspire to? What’s the place in our lives where we find breathable air that’s far above the pollution that makes up the rest of the world?
Is it heaven? Not if we’re still in our earthly bodies. Rather, our Cloud City is found in how we live, how we think, and in how we respect those who travel this road beside us. Our Cloud City is found in the Christian ideals we hear espoused from our pulpits and blasted from our radios.
Even more, our Cloud City is found in the changed lives that make people look at us and know we are different from the muck that continually clings to those who walk with their feet on the ground.
Philippians 4:8 gives us our instructions on how to reach Cloud City:
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
Underground homes might be all the rage for some people, but when we think pure thoughts and stand in our Cloud City, we’ll have line-of-sight views directly to Jesus, the future glories of heaven, and all the angels singing in praise to our Almighty God.
Talk about a real estate sales package! That’s a place everyone wants to live.
Just to think on Jesus is the first step to rising above the mire that keeps us grounded in our sin.
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Code: FGO.G.29.15.vp.esv