Here we have no lasting city

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14).

How does one teach a child to 'seek the welfare of the city' in which we live with the recognition that 'here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come'?

If this tension is not identified, and maintained, we will tend to one of two errors (both of which are common):

1. Seeking the welfare of the city of our exile with the illusion that the changes to it will be enduring.
2. Seeking the city to come in a way that ignores and harms the welfare of the city of our exile.

The only way that we can teach our children to be truly responsible citizens of the 'city of man' is to teach them to be faithful citizens of the 'city of God.' Then, and only then, will they understand to seek the welfare of this temporary city in a way that confesses its transience and calls the passing city to join us in seeking the city that is to come.

This, I believe, is why Christians are called to gospel entrepreneurship, ventures that provide a foretaste of the Kingdom of Christ with whom we do business, act as a sign of the redemption that Christ has wrought, and are the instrument of God's saving and redeeming work within this fleeting city. If we are faithful to the Gospel of Christ, the ways that we seek the welfare of the city of our exile will at the same time witness to the city that just and equitable business alone cannot and will not redeem a city. She needs a Redeemer, who is the Ruler of the city to come.

I can hear the (warranted) questions: Can't this happen in existing businesses? Why entrepreneurship? Those are questions for another post . . .