“The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
Jesus Christ, in Luke 17: 20-21
“Amid all the supersizing, many of us feel God doing something new, something small and subtle. This thing Jesus called the kingdom of God is emerging across the globe in the most unexpected places, a gentle whisper amid the chaos. Little people with big dreams are reimagining the world. Little movements of communities of ordinary radicals are committed to doing small things with great love.”
Shane Claibourne, in the introduction to
Irresistible Revolution
It always amazes me the way God chooses to speak to His children, and how when something is really important He’ll confirm what He’s said just a few short hours later. Yesterday morning in church we talked about what the kingdom of God is like by looking at a few of Jesus’ parables in the book of Matthew, and toward the end of the message, the speaker briefly mentioned the verse from Luke 17 that is above. I made a note of it, said I would look back at it after church, and got home and kind-of forgot about it. So God nudged me again last night – I picked up the book
Irresistible Revolution (I had gotten it over Christmas break and hadn’t had a chance to read it yet), and started reading through the introduction when I came across Claibourne’s little blurb about the kingdom of God. So I sat back and said “What do You want me to learn from this, God? What do You have to teach me about Your kingdom?”
The two biggest things I pick up from these two passages are that the kingdom of God is in me and that it is emerging in places where most of us would never expect it to. Now, I know that looks like I just copied a few words from each thing, threw them together, and said “Here it is – the most important thing…” but I believe that there are some good applications from these words.
First,
the kingdom of God is in me. A note in my study Bible by Matthew 3:2 says “The kingdom of heaven began when God himself entered human history as a man. Today Jesus Christ reigns in the hearts of believers, but the kingdom of heaven will not be fully realized until all evil in the world is judged and removed.”
The kingdom of God is in me. By dwelling in me, Jesus has brought the kingdom into my being.
The kingdom of God is in me. When I asked Jesus to come and live in my heart about 18 years ago, I was inviting the kingdom of God into my inner being.
The kingdom of God is in me. Since Christ is Lord of my life and He reigns in my heart, He is bringing His kingdom, in all its fullness, right into the place I’ll be able to see it all the time – my heart.
The kingdom of God is in me!
Which brings me to the second point – God’s kingdom is constantly emerging in the world in places where we wouldn’t expect or imagine it. God’s people all over the world are bringing His kingdom all over the world. As people are being born into the kingdom every day, God’s kingdom is being breathed further in to every corner of the earth. Claibourne recognized this and brings it to our attention. It gets me really excited to see where the kingdom of God is continuously emerging, whether in an orphanage in India or a small town in rural Mexico, or a large city dump in Ecuador. God is working, God is moving in our world, and He is using each of us,
His kingdom, to do it!
(Oh, if you want to follow the kingdom of God in action, go to www.theworldrace.org and read updates from the teams that are currently living out God’s kingdom – they just finished a month in Mexico and are currently in Guatemala waiting to see what ministry God has for them next).
