Whenever I travel to the UK, South Africa, or any of the East African countries, I spend the first few days in confusion. These countries have one thing in common – they all have right-hand wheels, so they drive to the left. Coming from a background with opposite driving experience could be problematic. I look in the wrong direction while trying to cross the road. When I am to be chauffeured, I go to the driver’s side which would be the passenger’s seat in my country. I typically have to go through a period of mental reorientation before blending in with the new environment.

“So life in the kingdom of God is a completely new experience. It is not automatic that a simple profession of faith in Jesus will produce all the virtues of the Saviour in us at once.”

This illustrates our new life in Christ. The way things are done in the kingdom of God is quite the opposite of what obtains in the world. For instance, it is normal in the world to revenge and to serve it cold. In God’s kingdom that is not permitted. You have the oddity of turning the other cheek having been slapped once. Here it is God who takes care of business, not you. Again, in the world, it is acceptable to seek to accumulate and hoard. In the new world of God’s kingdom, we must open our hands wide in distributing to the necessities of the saints. So life in the kingdom of God is a completely new experience. It is not automatic that a simple profession of faith in Jesus will produce all the virtues of the Saviour in us at once. The profession only marks the beginning of the journey to unlearn the ways of the world and imbibe those of the kingdom, one virtue at a time. Being hungry for truth and yielded to the Spirit will help to hasten the process.