There have been countless times over the past six months when I have become suddenly and acutely aware of my surroundings. New Jerusalem is a refuge where Burmese children have found a home, and while worshiping there with them this morning, I was struck by how fortunate they are for that.
Of course they are, right. They are fortunate to have found a home, where they have found a place in a world where that is not always the case. But I was more aware of the type of home that is. The type of environment in which these children have found themselves. The kind of place they get to grow up.
The kind of place where on Sunday morning, singing “Mighty to Save,” children raise their hands and close their eyes and sing with their hearts. Because that is what they have been taught to do by the example of the people around them. By men and women who worship freely and openly. Especially these guys, the staff, these young men with their hands held high and earnestness on their faces.
They are an example of not being too tough, too prideful to worship the One who has created them, who has brought them to this refuge. Of being men who are doing it right. Who are giving their lives for God. Living their lives to serve, to love. The way we are supposed to live, to serve, to love.
It struck me as a contrast to what I know. To what I have known, watching 20-year-old guys in the church, stand in the back, slouch in the pew, text on the phone, don’t move your lips when we sing. And maybe that is because they did not see it either.
So we are just creating this chain of mediocrity. Of lukewarm people who call themselves Christians.
Who are just Christian enough to keep the chain going.
These men at New Jerusalem are bringing the Kingdom, building the Kingdom, by making a new chain.
By being themselves without fear. By worshiping without reservation. By being humble enough to glorify the One who has rescued them.
By living.
We can go out and tell people whatever we are going to tell them, but we build the Kingdom with our lives.
We are building it whether we are trying to or not.
Whatever world we are living in, we are building or breaking the Kingdom with the choices we make, with the lives we live.
It is not something we do in Thailand or Nicaragua or Swaziland. It is today and tomorrow. It is living.
There is no ministry. There are no off days. There is only life.
And the example that we are setting for those around us, intentional or not, is creating the kind of world they live in, creating the type of people they are.
We build the Kingdom with our lives. Build Your Kingdom here in my life. Build Your Kingdom with my life.
