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"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven."
This request from the Our Father shows what it would take for life on earth to become the paradise everyone seeks.
Heaven is trouble-free because God's will is always done by its residents. Earth is filled with trouble and death because God's will is not being done by its residents.
The only way this world will change is when Christ returns and sets up the kingdom of God. Till then there will be "wars and rumors of wars and nation [Greek ethnos = ethnic group] rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in various places." (from Matthew 24)
When the kingdom is set up, then this will be fulfilled: "And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." (Isaiah 2:4)
And, from Isaiah 11:6-9 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child shall play on the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper's den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
This is how and when the prayer will be fulfilled. Till then the Our Father should be fervently prayed every day.
Romans 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die.
People do die for others: examples are police, firefighters, or soldiers. They are driven by a sense of duty, not so much for any particular individual but for the community, or for an ideal like democracy or freedom.
Even an average citizen upon seeing someone in the way of an oncoming vehicle, may without thinking, dart out and push the unwary person out of the way. He himself may die in the attempt. Or, someone drowning in freezing water may be rescued by a passerby, who himself drowns.
In all these cases, it is the character of the one dying that is noted -- noble, loving, selfless. But the verse from Romans is not only about the rescuer's motivation but also with the character of the ones who are rescued.
What if the firefighter learns that the trapped person is a wanted drug-lord responsible for the deaths and ruination of scores of kids; that his daughter who succumbed to an addictive life was due to him? Which motive wins, duty or vengeance?
Paul says that one would hardly die for a righteous man. The word righteous in Greek means morally right, but not necessarily loving, or compassionate or beneficent. It simply one who is honest in business affairs and such, or is faithful to his wife and family and is a good citizen. Paul says that someone would hardly die for someone like this.
When Abraham went to fight the kings who stole away the people and goods of Sodom, he did it for his nephew Lot. The bible says Lot was righteous in 2 Peter 2:7; but, it wasn't his primary motivation for hazarding his own life in a war to save him. It was because he was his flesh and blood. Even a mother may sacrifice herself for a son who is a criminal in the eyes of society.
Then Paul says later in Romans 5:7, that one might have the courage to die for a good man. This goodness means moral uprightness with kindness, generosity, love, and innocence. If such a man were in jeopardy, someone may volunteer to die for him.
The Tale of Two Cities uses this idea. Sydney Carton, the cynical lawyer, gives his life for another man named Charles Darnay, a noble aristocrat, who happens to be in love with the same woman that Sydney is in love with. His final line, as he is to die in the place of Darnay is one of the most famous lines in literature: It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.
Charles Dickens idealized what Paul says here in Romans 5:7, that one may have courage to die for a good man. Carton calls it 'a far better thing that I do.' He means that all his life has been a waste except for this final act of selfless sacrifice.
The theme of sacrificial death moves on people. That is why Dickens' book is such a popular classic. All the more then is the true story of Christ's dying for the ungodly.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The crucial difference is the character of the ones for whom Christ dies. In the sight of God we are more akin to the drug lord than to a good and innocent person. Only God would or could do such a thing. And Christ did not act impulsively as a passerby who might rescue another in danger, but He determined to do so from ages past.
The Father acted decisively to send His Son, for that's how much He loved the world. And the Son went in obedience to complete the mission.
By this divine act of love, God makes friends of his enemies. That's the motive behind the Gospel.
Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
The reason why heaven is like it is is because everyone there always does God's will. The reason why the earth is the way it is is because people mostly don't do God's will.
