The Kingdom - here and now
01/02/07 Filed in: Pneuma
Brokenness, openness, brings
healing
Brokenness. It's been a recurring theme lately, and something I am obviously experiencing first hand right now. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom. The Kingdom though is not just a place, some future event, but something that we can live and walk in right now. In Matthew 3:2, John the baptiser tells the crowds that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus continually repeated those words, see Matthew 4:17, 9:35. If you do a word search for the use of the word Kingdom in the Bible, you'll see Jesus talks about the Kingdom a lot. Some say Jesus talked about hell more than the kingdom. I am sure you've heard someone make such a claim. Actually, according to my Bible software, it 321 references to 13. The Kingdom is what Jesus came to bring us. What does that Kingdom look like?
To answer that question would take a lot more than the few minutes I plan to spend on this blog, so as is likely obvious from the title, I want to just share my heart about being broken, and about being open.
The kingdom of this world teaches us to react a certain way. Revenge is a primary philosophy of the world. We are taught that if someone does something wrong, we need to make them pay. When someone wrongs you, our natural inclination is payback. When I was recently wronged in a big way, it was almost impossible not to think of how I could reverse that wrong by getting back at the people responsible. I could write something nasty. I could make threats. I could... anything to try and make the other person feel the same pain as you. The desire to retaliate is so strong that for a time, it had me in it's grasp. I've been experiencing it these last 2 days like crazy. It's a cycle that the Kingdom that Jesus brings us, breaks. Jesus shows us a better way, His way, the way of the Kingdom. His way is the way of brokenness. A total surrender of the emotions and desires to His. Oh boy, it's a lot harder to do than it is to write, but once we do, we start to see the beauty of the Kingdom blossom. The heart that was once angry, bitter, resentful, starts finding peace, stillness, and rest in the very midst of a trial. We find shalom. (Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, not some cute zen hippies and crystals thing.) Shalom means more than our English word for peace though, it means being right with God in everything. Shalom is the goal. Shalom is what we discover when we seek first the Kingdom. See Matthew 6.
A heart that is broken, or perhaps another word would be humble or even contrite, is a heart that isn't afraid of openness. Brokenness has no secrets. Brokenness doesn't put up a facade. It lets people in to see what you have. It reaches out to others in pain and allows all our barriers to come collapsing down so that healing can flow. When people find brokenness and openness together, healing is unleashed like a torrent. Suddenly we are set free from putting on the happy-joy-luck-club smile on Sunday morning. When our friends ask us how we are doing, we find the freedom to answer that we're not doing so well. We reach out for help and we find others who have suffered like we now are. We discover that we're really not that different from our friends and together, in brokenness and openness, we have the courage to walk through anything, no matter what the enemy throws at us. Matthew 18:3-4.
Jesus will help you remove the walls you've built and allow you to shine. Maybe you've got a grudge against a friend. Will your friendship dissolve or improve if you ask them to forgive you?There's the way of this world, and then there's His way. Often it's not easy to travel His way, and He warned us that it wouldn't be, but the reward is healing for our hurts, forgiveness of our wrongs, and redemption of our dreams.
May you find His way, the way of life, the way of Shalom, the way of the Kingdom of God brought near to us by his grace, and may you find that the Kingdom of God is as close as you want it to be. Luke 17:20-21.
Shalom.
Brokenness. It's been a recurring theme lately, and something I am obviously experiencing first hand right now. Jesus came to bring the Kingdom. The Kingdom though is not just a place, some future event, but something that we can live and walk in right now. In Matthew 3:2, John the baptiser tells the crowds that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus continually repeated those words, see Matthew 4:17, 9:35. If you do a word search for the use of the word Kingdom in the Bible, you'll see Jesus talks about the Kingdom a lot. Some say Jesus talked about hell more than the kingdom. I am sure you've heard someone make such a claim. Actually, according to my Bible software, it 321 references to 13. The Kingdom is what Jesus came to bring us. What does that Kingdom look like?
To answer that question would take a lot more than the few minutes I plan to spend on this blog, so as is likely obvious from the title, I want to just share my heart about being broken, and about being open.
The kingdom of this world teaches us to react a certain way. Revenge is a primary philosophy of the world. We are taught that if someone does something wrong, we need to make them pay. When someone wrongs you, our natural inclination is payback. When I was recently wronged in a big way, it was almost impossible not to think of how I could reverse that wrong by getting back at the people responsible. I could write something nasty. I could make threats. I could... anything to try and make the other person feel the same pain as you. The desire to retaliate is so strong that for a time, it had me in it's grasp. I've been experiencing it these last 2 days like crazy. It's a cycle that the Kingdom that Jesus brings us, breaks. Jesus shows us a better way, His way, the way of the Kingdom. His way is the way of brokenness. A total surrender of the emotions and desires to His. Oh boy, it's a lot harder to do than it is to write, but once we do, we start to see the beauty of the Kingdom blossom. The heart that was once angry, bitter, resentful, starts finding peace, stillness, and rest in the very midst of a trial. We find shalom. (Shalom is the Hebrew word for peace, not some cute zen hippies and crystals thing.) Shalom means more than our English word for peace though, it means being right with God in everything. Shalom is the goal. Shalom is what we discover when we seek first the Kingdom. See Matthew 6.
A heart that is broken, or perhaps another word would be humble or even contrite, is a heart that isn't afraid of openness. Brokenness has no secrets. Brokenness doesn't put up a facade. It lets people in to see what you have. It reaches out to others in pain and allows all our barriers to come collapsing down so that healing can flow. When people find brokenness and openness together, healing is unleashed like a torrent. Suddenly we are set free from putting on the happy-joy-luck-club smile on Sunday morning. When our friends ask us how we are doing, we find the freedom to answer that we're not doing so well. We reach out for help and we find others who have suffered like we now are. We discover that we're really not that different from our friends and together, in brokenness and openness, we have the courage to walk through anything, no matter what the enemy throws at us. Matthew 18:3-4.
Jesus will help you remove the walls you've built and allow you to shine. Maybe you've got a grudge against a friend. Will your friendship dissolve or improve if you ask them to forgive you?There's the way of this world, and then there's His way. Often it's not easy to travel His way, and He warned us that it wouldn't be, but the reward is healing for our hurts, forgiveness of our wrongs, and redemption of our dreams.
May you find His way, the way of life, the way of Shalom, the way of the Kingdom of God brought near to us by his grace, and may you find that the Kingdom of God is as close as you want it to be. Luke 17:20-21.
Shalom.