February 21st, 2008
Our Current Kingdom
“When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
Mark 12:34
Let’s set the stage (hehe – how often do I say that in these blogs?). Expert in the law honestly questions Jesus about greatest commandment. Jesus responds. Man repeats what Jesus says and then compares it to his current worship practices. Jesus commends man and says, “Keep thinking. You’re almost there.” (loose Tami paraphrase). Almost where? The kingdom of God. What does that mean? Jesus was not prophesying this man’s immediate death. It seems that he was saying we are part of the kingdom of God while still here on this earth. Does that “make you want to shout?”
It should. We get so wrapped up in our lives, our troubles, our enemies, our hurts that I think we lose focus that we are actually CURRENTLY part of a whole different society. A society where love should control, forgiveness abound, joy overflow, peace undergird.
This week the kids have had school vacation which is great. We get to be more relaxed in the mornings, play more games, get together with friends….However, it also meant that there was little time for me to work on my schoolwork when the kids weren’t around. I managed to fit all the reading in around when the kids were busy or in bed. Yesterday Tim had the time to try to “distract” the kids so I could write my weekly paper. One thing he did was get down from the attic boxes of his old memorabilia including a scrapbook from when he was a kid, his old Star Wars toys, and many trophies he won. This morning as we talked about looking at all his old “important” items, he mentioned that they didn’t mean as much to him as they used to. And I reflected back to what I read about the kingdom of God.
The things we currently think are so important may not be. The items we cling tightly to may not be worth it. The anger we live with, the grudges we bear, the short-lived joys may not be what we should focus on. We are part of a kingdom. We do not need to be weighed down with this world. Yes, we must work, play and interact in this world. However, what is our focus as we do so? The challenge as we live our lives, is to remind ourselves that we are currently, now, part of a different kingdom where the priorities are completely different from our everyday lives.
So, let’s go out, talk with friends and coworkers, do our jobs, do the laundry, all with the knowledge that there’s a different level to life. We’re part of the kingdom of God.