Folding Space
for He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, Colossians 1:13
Transferred – Frank Herbert wrote the famous Dune science fiction series. In Herbert’s imagination, one group of mystical beings is able to “fold space” so that they can travel without moving. But human imagination cannot outpace God’s creative genius. Here we find that Paul anticipates folding space when he tells us that God has transferred us from the authority of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus.
The Greek verb is methisthemi, a combination of meta (change of place) and histemi (to stand). To stand in a change of place is the sense of it. But notice that while we have moved, we never went anywhere. God folded spiritual space so that we were transported from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light without so much as taking a single step.
If you have changed places without moving, you might think that everything still looks the same. You’re right – and you’re wrong. Everything looks the same, but nothing remains of the old view. So, when God transfers you, you are still in the same family, the same neighborhood, the same country. You still have the same spouse, house, job and car. But now you leave it all behind. What comes over you is a new perspective on all those old, familiar places. You were moved to a new dimension where the kingdom of Jesus re-orients the rest of your world. You see things as they really are.
What does this mean for those of us with feet on the ground? It means that if you have been transferred, your old way of acting, thinking and feeling begins to be a bit uncomfortable. Your vision, objectives, motives and hopes are skewed. Your friends might come to you and say, “Don’t worry. Someday you’ll be back to normal,” but you know it isn’t true. Normal moved with you.
If you think you have been transferred because someone told you to say a prayer or join a congregation, but you don’t notice a kind of malaise about the way things used to be, then you probably haven’t been folded. No one can enter into the Kingdom with crumpling. Every citizen of the Kingdom knows he doesn’t seem to fit into the world’s patterns. He is learning to live with discomfort – joyously.
How uncomfortable are you?
