Kingdom of God

I've left this post up for posterity. This was my first attempt to start blogging my senior pastor journey. Be kind 😀

I can remember driving down the highway in that old ’84 red Ford Grenada station wagon. My sister and I were in the back seat and I was tired of her messing with me. “OK,” I said, “See this imaginary line right here?” I drew a line with my hand down the middle of the back seat. “You cannot cross this line.” “That side is yours and this is mine.” Most of you have been there at some time or other. Eventually negotiations break down and one or the other side crosses the line and gets real close, but then starts to say, “I’m not touching you...I’m not touching you.” You see, we all have our own kingdom. It is our sphere of influence, the place where what we say goes. As children driving down the road sitting in that back seat, our sphere was pretty small. Eventually, mom or dad gets tired of the whole deal and says, “This is my kingdom and I will stop this car right now if y’all don’t stop that!” We all have kingdoms and they are all junked up, then our kingdoms intersect and merge to form bigger kingdoms. There are families, schools, companies, nations...Jesus calls this whole conglomeration the kingdom of earth. In the Kingdom of earth, everyone is out for their own agendas and their own kingdoms. Then there’s the kingdom of God that we were talking about yesterday. Jesus paints for us a picture of this kingdom. Imagine a place where other people’s kingdoms are not violated. Where the strong don’t violate the weak because everyone is made powerful in the pursuit of God. This is the society that Jesus talked about. The kingdom of God is the sphere in which what God says goes. Where everything that happens meets with God’s approval and delight. Where everything is exactly the way God wants it to be. Can you imagine living in a world like that? What would that be like? Most of what Jesus taught is what this community would look like. His kingdom is about including the outsiders and marginalized. Being invited to the party, not excluded. How does that compare with the kingdom of Earth? The kingdom of God is about peace and joy, love and mercy. You can see now why Jesus was so intent on telling us the good news about the Kingdom of God. I believe as Christians, it is our duty to help bring that Kingdom here. Let’s live like we are living in the kingdom of God right now. Be kind, compassionate, loving and generous and see what kind of difference that will make in your life and the life of those around you.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2010 at 9:54 AM

    Cal, this is some really good stuff. If you don't care I will add you to my blogroll.

    Michael

    ReplyDelete
  2. MichaelFebruary 4, 2010 at 10:01 AM

    You are spot on! I'm so glad you are on our district! Keeping painting pictures like this!

    ReplyDelete

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