There's an old song which had the following words in it,'Take my hand I'm a stranger in paradise',it's not a spiritual song,but I see a spiritual application in these words.I believe padadise and heaven are the same place.The dying thief was assured that very day he would be with Jesus in paradise,although Jesus had not acended into heaven He was there in His diety.In 2 Corinthians 12 v4, Paul declares' that he was caught up into paradise',again I believe that is heaven he is talking about.The fact is, all true believers will go to paradise/heaven ,when we leave this mortal coil.and we will not be strangers in paradise.But as regards this world the saints of old confessed,that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth (Hebrews 11v13). While we are on this planet earth we will never be at ease,because it is a fallen planet,the earths values are not the child of God's values,in a sense everything has been affected by sin,we must always be on our guard .It is James who writes,'Friendship with the world is enmity with God (4 V4),in John 2 v15-17 we read,'Love not the world neither the things that are in the world,If any man love the world,the love of the Father is not in them' We will consider this further next time
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