| | Do you ever wake up in the morning feeling disappointed? When I was a child I had several dreams about being a ninja turtle. I would fight my dark foes, and at the end of the day I would sit back, relax, and enjoy a pizza. Yes, your dream world… were anything can happen, and things seem to go your way. The life you had in the dream was so real, and so serene. You almost wish to fall asleep again in order to stay in that wishful environment. And it saddens us when we have to come to our senses and admit that it was only a dream. That world does not exist, and we convince our selves that that dream could never happen. Then once again we return to the mundane… the punching the time clock… day in day out life. Yet that dream lingers inside us. We want that dream to be true… we want the hope that it gave to be real. Yet we fight agianst it. C. S Lewis speaks about this in the Magician’s Nephew. Digory’s mother is sick, and she has been for a while. Digory begins to think back to the world that he had just visited and begins to hope that something can cure his dying mother:
“There might be almost anything. There might be fruit in some other world that would really cure his mother! And oh, oh- Well you know how it feels when you begin hoping for something that you want desperately badly; you almost fight against the hope because it is too good to be true; you’ve been disappointed so often before.”
This is the idea that people have about Christianity, and I, to my shame, and perhaps you too have or had this view about the Kingdom of God. We have this idea of the Kingdom of God as being this far fetched idea that can never be grasped. We think, “Sure the Kingdom is among us… but where?” “How can the Kingdom be here… in the here and now… when so much bad has happened?” But Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is here; the Kingdom is among us:
“From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matthew 12:28). “Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:19).
So what is the Kingdom? And how are we to understand this? I believe that if we look at Matthew 5:1-7:29 (the Sermon on the Mount.), then we will understand how Jesus views His Kingdom. This is what He wants His Kingdom to look like, and this is how He wants His Kingdom citizens to act. Jonathan R. Wilson, a professor of religious studies at Westmont College, says, “The Kingdom is present and actual wherever and whenever someone is restored to relationship with God, the enemy is loved, the hungry fed, the sick healed.” When we sit at a table and pass the salt to another, that is the Kingdom. When we, a disciple, pick up trash in our neighbors yard, that is the Kingdom. When we love our enemy and desperately desire to see him come to know Christ, that is the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not wishful thinking, but it is a present reality that God requires His sons and daughters to live out. And this is not something we must work at to obtain, for “the Kingdom is among you.” Rather it is something that we must understand is already present. And God is ready for us to take hold of it. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom” (Luke 12:32).
Now let us not get the Kingdom of God confused with the many ideologies that are present in our world. Examples of this would be: ‘The World is not evil’ or ‘all people are relatively good.’ The problem with these ideologies is that they are never obtainable. A perfect world is not obtainable without God ending it, and having all people loving one another is also unobtainable. Ideologies keep us hoping for something greater… something that is not the Kingdom… and this something will never come… it leaves us hurting and weeping. The things that we wanted most will never come to us… and this is desolating. We keep wanting to fall asleep… to have that dream once again. But why does God allow these things to creep up in our minds. Does God not want His people to have what they so desperately desire and also sometimes NEED!? Does God just keep things dangling over our heads making us grasp after it… knowing that we can never have it? And it hurts us so much.
Jesus does care. He showed this by displaying the greatest act of love: His sacrificial death on the cross. He gave us the most precious gift: eternal life. Jesus cares more than we could ever know. And He says to us, “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 31-33). Now does that mean we will get what we want? No. But we will receive the gifts God knows we need, and only God knows what those things are. These desires will no longs carry as much weight in our hearts as they once did. They are no longer as important to us.
However, what if the things we desire desperately are: for our sick sister to get better, for daddy to stop beating mommy, for our sick mother to get well.
These are very dear questions. Does God care? How can a loving God allow mothers to die, kids to get sick, and husbands to abuse their wives? WHY?!
No simple answer will do. This has been a question asked to me several times by many people… some even believers who just can’t see God’s justice being displayed in all this. And as I would sit there and beg with God to answer me… Why do things like this have to happen? Why can’t those dreams that give us hope be real? Do you not hear your people crying out to You?!
And in His still quite voice God would speak… “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out…” (Exodus 3:7) ‘and so I sent them Moses.’ ‘I have heard my people crying out for a king to rule over them, though they do not need one. And when they get one, they will no longer hold me as King in their hearts…. But I will give them David.’ I have seen My people crying out for Salvation… so I sent them my only Son (John 3:16).
God does hear His people. When bad things happen… when we are down on our knees crying and weeping before our God… I am convinced that our God is down on His knees holding us and weeping with us.
Why do bad things happen to His disciples? I don’t know… I’m sorry… but I don’t know. But I do know that when these painful times come and we want to put our faith and hope in an idea… we should instead seek His Kingdom… because we know that He loves us and is with us… “even to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20) And when everything has been shaken, everything has been stripped down to leave nothing left…still.. “these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. But the greatest of these is Love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). He is that faith, hope, and love…. The true hope… that exists in the here and now… there is no need to fall asleep… or stay asleep… “for the Kingdom of Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). And it is far more real than any dream could possibly be.
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| | Posted 1/22/2007 12:35 AM - 54 Views - 10 eProps - 9 comments
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