Today is day 287 of the World Race.
For the past month, a lot of my squad has joked about how we could have carried a baby to term by now as pregnancy lasts approximately 280 days.
And, that got me thinking.
Birth is a juxtaposition of beauty and pain.
The process of birth is messy and painful, but it leads to so much joy.
And, birth begets life which shares in the same juxtaposition of beauty and pain.
Because we live in a broken world.
And, right now, I’m feeling the weight of that brokenness.
For nine months, I’ve felt that weight grow.
I’ve witnessed first hand the pain and suffering that pollutes our world.
I’ve seen the consequences of our brokenness.
It lingers in underground restaurants where women offer their bodies for the price of a plate of food.
It roams the medical wards and homeless shelters where people have been abandoned and rejected by their families.
It haunts the memories of genocide survivors and victims of abuse.
It is visible in the blank eyes of starving, thirsty children.
It is a weight I cannot carry on my own.
But, the good news is that we weren’t meant to carry that burden alone.
And, that God never meant for our world to remain broken.
He is constantly working to bring restoration and renewal.
And, better yet, He doesn’t want us to wait to experience His Kingdom.
This is the Good News that Jesus brought.
God has prepared His Kingdom for us since before the creation of the world (Matt 25:34).
And, the Kingdom is near (Mark 1:15).
In Romans 8:18-28, Paul writes about how creation eagerly awaits “for the children of God to be revealed.” How we, along with creation, have been “groaning as in the pains of childbirth” as we wait for our own rebirth in Christ and the freedom and glory that will be revealed in us.
We are agents of renewal in a broken world.
We can bring renewal when we die to our old desires, and are given new life in Christ—when we begin to live according to His desires.
While the work we begin on earth won’t be carried out into completion until heaven, we are given the opportunity to bring Kingdom to earth.
The Kingdom is a present reality for those who are alive in Christ. And, we have the opportunity to expand the reign of Christ on this earth, to invite others in, and to extend the message of salvation to the corners of the earth.
Right now, we face a battle between the kingdoms of this world and the Kingdom of God, but there will be a day when good triumphs over evil.
In the meantime, we have the opportunity to bring new life—to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release prisoners from the darkness (Isaiah 61).
