“On Earth As It Is In Heaven”
What exactly did Jesus mean when He told us to pray that God’s kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven? What does God’s kingdom encompass? If you are anything like me, when the kingdom of God is mentioned, your heart and mind immediately jumps to thoughts about souls being saved. Or perhaps, your heart and mind jump to a more expansive definition and you might also include healing of the physical body, deliverance from demons, and freedom from sin as things that the kingdom of God encompasses — I would also include these things. As you read this, I’d like to challenge you in something that the Lord has been challenging me in this first month of the Race: I challenge you to expand your definition of the kingdom of God.
What if the kingdom of God included proper transportation systems, aka properly cared for roads? What if the kingdom of God included clean air and clean water? What if the kingdom of God included healthy working conditions? What if the kingdom of God included streets free of homeless people or street kids?
My first thought when I got into the Philippines and saw some of the living conditions and the roads was, “There is no way this is God’s will.” There is chaos everywhere, a lack of order, a lack of cleanliness, and a lack of provision for the people. These things don’t bother me in the sense of me needing things to be a certain way to feel okay, I’m quite content. However, these things do bother me in that there is no way heaven will look like this and the body of Christ is responsible for praying for and co-laboring with Christ for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, here and now.
I’d argue that the kingdom of God looks like anything that heaven looks like. If people can read in heaven, the reading is part of the kingdom of God. If people can write in heaven, then writing is part of the kingdom of God. If there is proper transportation systems in heaven, then proper transportation systems is part of the kingdom of God. You get the point.
This month I’ve been helping street boys — teenage boys who were abandoned by the parents and left on the streets, abused by the parents and left the home, lost their parents to death of some sort, or never knew their parents period. We are training them on what it looks like to be a man of God, but also what it looks like to do this thing called life, including: doing dishes, doing laundry, reading, writing, math, English, chores, etc. They are learning responsibility, respect, honor, discipline — all things that are present in the kingdom of God. It’s been such a blast just to be part of these young men’s life for a brief moment thus far!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on what it looks like for you to expand your definition of the kingdom of God based on what heaven will be like. Leave comments below! Love y’all! Also feel free to shoot me an email or comment below of what I can be praying for you for! Yay God!
