Friday, May 13, 2016

The Kingdom is near

Covered Bridge in Philippi, West Virginia

Our Sunday evening Bible Study is reading a book by John Ortberg with Kevin and Sherry Marney called Praying with Power. It's a chapter by chapter look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples - the prayer we use as well and call The Lord's Prayer. I like the book because I think so often we rush through the prayer, not listening or thinking about the words we are saying.

"Thy Kingdom come; thy will be done."

One of my very favorite books about faith is Leslie Weatherhead's book, The Will of God.  You can read about it in this post.  In it, he says about that God's ultimate will is, God's final realization of his purposes" -- God will not be defeated, and his ultimate will for us -- redemption and reunification with God -- will happen. No circumstance can defeat his ultimate will."

I think that's what God's will is - and when we pray for God's will to be done, that's what we mean.

Ortberg says, "We can barely understand what this earth would look like if God's kingdom were to really break into human history.  It boggles the mind...Imagine everything God desires to happen actually happening - the time, place and reality when all he desires is what we experience.  That's God's kingdom"

I think we often feel pretty distant from that experience. We look around the world - we look at our lives - and we don't see God's kingdom.  But Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is near." Jesus' action 2000 years ago didn't just save me; his actions redeemed the entire world.  The kingdom of God is near.  Right here. Right now.

What can we do to see it? What can we do to help others to see it?

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