Building the Kingdom

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." 

Matt 6:10

These are words prayed every Sunday at my church, words that Jesus instructed His disciples to pray, words that have profound implications and significance when spoken with sincerity, but also words that easily get lost in the translation from our mouths to our hearts and minds. Words easily forgotten. Lord, may that not be the case.

What is God's kingdom and how is it manifested on earth?

                According to the Bible,

                                àit is something to be sought (Matt 6:34)

                                àit is to be preached (Acts 28:31)

                                àyou must be born again to see it (John 3:3)

                                àit has been given to us by God (Luke 12:32)

                                àJesus is central to it (Matt 26:29)

                                àbeing a "good" flourishing seed makes us a son of it (Matt 13:38)

                                àit is Jesus on earth (Matt 3:2)

                                àwe are to pray for it to come (Matt 6:10)

As a follower of Jesus, I believe the kingdom of God is something we are responsible to build each and every day. I believe that God manifests His kingdom on earth through us, His genuine followers. Take a flip through the Old Testament…David, Samson, Moses…Now the New…Mary, Paul, Peter, John…

God's kingdom on earth is, I believe, life as it was purposed to be from the start: life without sin, life full of love, life full of God's presence. Think Adam and Eve…pre-serpent. After the fall, this life was broken with the entrance of sin and hate, and thus the rescinding of God's  presence (but not purpose) in sinners (us all). Since the fall, God has so graciously restored this original life back on earth through Jesus Christ in true believers.

As true believers, we are freed from sin through Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1), love because we were first loved by God (1 John 4:19), and are gifted with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:11). We are then called to spread this life of freedom, love and God's presence to others by "loving our neighbor " regardless of who our neighbor is: whether they be friend or foe, stranger or family, foreigner or authority. That is, I believe, how God brings His kingdom to earth, through us.

When we pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is on heaven," we are praying for love, for the spread of the Gospel, for missionnal living.

We have an important role to play in God's prevailing purpose. It is an honor, really, that He has bestowed upon us. He doesn't necessarily need us to build His kingdom on earth, but He has specifically chosen us to do so. STOP and reread that. He doesn't need us, but He chooses to use us. Let that sink in.

That is true love. He has chosen to create us despite knowing we would betray Him and choose sin. He has chosen to create us despite knowing it would cost Him, Jesus, His life on earth and 3 days of separation from God. Hell. He chooses to use us to spread the Gospel and love His people despite knowing we will continually fall short and fail. Yet, He still chooses to use us.

My mom used to let me "help" her in the kitchen during Christmas roll the dough for cookies and add the flour saying she needed my help, I knew she never did. Nonetheless, in those moments I felt like I had a purpose, I was needed, and mostly, I was loved because I got to work side by side with my mom. God has allowed us to "help" Him. We get to work side by side with Him (notice it’s with Him, and not for Him.) I feel important and wanted by God when I allow Him to use me to build His kingdom.

To build the kingdom of God, it is as simple as loving the Lord my God above all else, and loving my neighbor as myself. It is choosing others' needs above my own. It looks like taking time to talk to a friend instead of stressing out over homework that has yet to be finished, it means smiling at that stranger and even initiating small talk instead of walking by with IPOD blasting or face down texting, it means going to church instead of sleeping in, it means completing an assignment with joy instead of pouring over FB posts, it means thanking the clerk at the store instead running out the door late for the next item on your check list, it means being flexible to circumstances and not stringent on tasks.

It means so many things, but in the end it is a choice we must make. Who's kingdom will you build in this moment? God's, or your own?  

Philippians 2:3-8

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.

 Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves,

not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset of Christ Jesus:

Who being in the very nature of God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.

Rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance of man,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ-fghqc8Oo