Celebrating Your Role in the Kingdom

'tis the season! Sweater Weather! Pumpkin Spice everything. Colors galore. 🍁 It's like a party in nature. Has the party started? Yes, it has. Are we surrounded by the party, immersed in the gala? Yes, we are. Do the cares and burdens of our day, the plate glass windows of the offices and classrooms in which we are stuck bring the party to a halt? Nope, they just prevent us from enjoying it.

Matthew 4:17. Jesus preaches the simplest of messages: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. I was listening to Dallas Willard's lecture series, Divine Conspiracy, posted on YouTube. He emphasizes the presence of the Kingdom of God (or Heaven) right here, right now. The rule of God is now, immediately available for us to live in. Now. Immediately. Willard likened Jesus' words, at hand, to a student showing another around campus. They are heading to the auditorium, and the student leading the way says, "Turn here, the auditorium is at hand." There is not a future turn referenced, but an immediate one. The auditorium is not days or miles away but is present. Turn immediately, the auditorium is immediate. 

In the first part of Jesus' message, He says "repent." The Greek word used is metanoeo. It means to change your thinking from what you thought before; to reconsider your previous considerations. Jesus didn't preach, Change your behavior, for the kingdom of heaven is here. Jesus knows it is our thoughts that determine our behavior. If we think there is no other way to provide for our family but to do something illegal, that is what we will do. If we think there is no truth to be found, we will live in a way that is without hope and, perhaps, without restraint. But(!) if we think, believe, abide in the message Christ preached, we will treat our neighbors differently (Eph. 4:32), treat our bodies differently (1 Cor. 10:31), love Jesus differently (Jn. 14:15). If I believe my job every morning is to reign with Christ, as His ambassador and as such, to bestow on everyone I meet the grace and goodness of the Kingdom of God, to bring heaven to earth in as many ways as I am able, I won't sit around licking my wounds or feeding my ego all day. I will join the party! I will be a faithful, joyful subject of the Kingdom of Heaven. I will --very publicly --be about my Father's business in such a way others can't resist! 

So, what about those cares and burdens, those plate glass windows? Need I remind you, when Jesus began preaching His message, He was coming off a forty-day fast in a desolate place where the enemy besieged Him, He'd just heard His cousin and friend, John the Baptist, was in prison, and He'd moved away from home. Hunger. Loneliness. Grief. Homesickness. Uncertainty. Who knows what burdens He carried! And yet, He didn't abdicate His message or His faith. Well, He was God. Yes, and He was man; the firstfruits of those who are His. That's why thinking is the initial step in Jesus' message and what should be our message to the world. Change your thinking; we have access to life in the Kingdom of Heaven right now! Our thinking determines whether we will or will not take part in Kingdom business. What we believe is the foundation for our experience.  

We have a tremendous reason to celebrate! Join the party: it's just begun!