Scripture: Luke 12:32-40; Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16
As a kid, my favorite thing in the whole world was to go swimming. At a friend’s pool, at the lake, the ocean – didn’t matter. I loved going swimming. So when my parents would promise me that we were going to go swimming – my response was normally to run around and get ready so when they got home for work or errands or whatever they were doing – I was all ready to go. Swimsuit was on – pool accessories were packed. I’d even cleaned the kitchen and done some chores around the house so that when my parents got home – they’d have less work to do so we could leave sooner.
So it makes me wonder… if I’m so ready and eager and running around getting things ready just so I can go swimming… why do I not spend more time running around, getting things ready for God’s coming Kingdom?
I mean, it’s kind of the same thing, isn’t? God’s made us a promise – that it is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. What a promise. That all God wants to do is give us His Kingdom.
And yet – we spend so little of our time preparing for that coming Kingdom. Preparing for Christ’s return. And then I realized – part of the problem is, do we really even know HOW to prepare for the coming Kingdom? Do we really even, if we’re honest, look forward to it?
I remember once talking to a friend years ago about Christ’s second coming – and her response was, “I hope it’s not yet – there’s so much I still want to do.”
I was slightly taken aback by that… the desire to cling to this world so much that you aren’t ready – and don’t want – God’s Kingdom to come?
But how often HAVE we thought or said that? “I hope Jesus doesn’t return today because I have “X” I want to do still…” Maybe a fun vacation, or event we want to participate in.
And maybe, just maybe, part of what drives such a response from us is do we really even BELIEVE that God’s Kingdom is going to come? Can we even fathom what that would be like? Because, let’s face it – when we look at the world around us, it sometimes seems like God’s Kingdom on earth is an impossible feat to accomplish. Can it really exist in a world that is still so overrun with so much violence, evil, greed, and self-centeredness? In a world where Christians don’t even act like Christians much of the time?
Plus, it’s so hard for us to imagine what God’s Kingdom is going to even look like that we almost fear it breaking into our world and changing what we know, what we do.
I mean, we know that God’s Kingdom has come already in the person of Jesus Christ, but to have it come in its fullness – where wolves lie down with sheep. Where swords, our weapons of war, are turned into blades for plows. Where nations stream to the city of God for healing.
It’s hard to see that happening in our world. It’s hard to imagine what our lives would look like, doesn’t it? If God’s Kingdom suddenly came. What would our lives be? What would they look like? The whole thing at times seems more like a fantasy than a promise. One that can be hard to have faith in when we see all the horrible things that happen throughout the world. 24 hour global news networks have given us such a glimpse into what happens around our world that we seem almost farther than ever from achieving God’s vision for us.
So – what are we to do? For some – their response is to just sit back and enjoy the show. Let the world blow itself up because that’s just all sort of some grand plan of God’s to deal with us.
And yet – to sit back and watch… isn’t what Jesus is calling us to do. Jesus is instead calling us to action. Jesus is calling us to participate in building that kingdom. To participate in what God is doing in our world – to change it. To bring it closer to what His vision and desire is for us so maybe it’s not quite so difficult to imagine it.
But the key is faith. Having faith that God is working in the world. That God is doing something, that He is somehow using us to bring us closer to His Kingdom.
But faith can be hard when we don’t immediately see the changes we want or expect.
Several years ago, when Mother Theresa died, there was a huge ruckus about some private letters she had written that were discovered and published. Here was this woman, who had dedicated her life to helping the poor and needy, living in the streets of Calcutta, India – trying to do exactly what she felt she had been called by God to do to help bring Jesus – and God’s Kingdom – into the lives of those who had no hope and seemingly no future.
In those letters she confessed that she did not feel God’s presence in her later years the way she had when she had begun her ministry. In her earlier years, when she had become a nun and been driven to the streets of Calcutta, she had known and felt God’s presence so clearly… but then… that seemed to fade a bit. And doubt seeped in.
Yet, Mother Theresa didn’t stop her ministry. She didn’t just quit because she no longer felt that strong presence like she once had.
Instead – she now was forced to rely solely on… her faith. “The assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.”
That is how Hebrews defines faith.
Non-Christians tried to use this confession to say “see, even Mother Theresa didn’t really believe!”
That’s a misunderstanding of what Mother Theresa’s point was in writing those letters. Did she have doubts? Did she long for God’s presence to be like it had been earlier in her life? Yes.
But that’s part of the faith life. We don’t always feel it clearly. God’s presence, at times, can seem very far away. As though we’ve been abandoned or neglected. Jesus used the word “forsaken” in his cry from the cross. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Faith, however, isn’t about feeling God’s presence every moment of every day. It’s about the times you DON’T feel God’s presence. When you are still able to cling to God’s promises in the midst of doubt, fear, and uncertainty – that’s true faith. It’s not faith anymore when you can see, feel, hear and touch it.
Hebrews runs through this litany of people in the Bible who, by faith, were led to do things that they never saw come to fruition. The promise from God was to go forth and do things that built up His Kingdom – but they didn’t ever live to see the promise come to fulfillment.
We, too, live in a time of promise. We live in the midst of partial fulfillment – Christ has come, bringing with Him, God’s Kingdom – but there is still more to the promise that we wait upon. That Kingdom that Christ is ushering in – we live awaiting its fulfillment. Having faith that it will one day be realized – and it is something we both desire and fear. Maybe we live to see it. Maybe we don’t.
Either way, like Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets… we continue to live on as people of faith. Waiting – but not just sitting around doing nothing. None of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 were told to just sit and watch. They had tasks. They were building toward something. Toward a future that they had faith God would eventually bring about.
God’s purpose was to use their work and build on it. Building toward His Kingdom. So we too are tasked with participating in building up God’s Kingdom here on earth.
There’s a bumper sticker that I’ve seen that says “Jesus is Coming – Look Busy.” I’m not one who is usually into bumper stickers, especially not “bumper sticker faith” – but this one has a point. Jesus doesn’t want to find us sitting on our hands having done nothing to further his Kingdom in our world. He expects to find us doing his work in the world at any given time.
Like that little girl I used to be who so anticipated my parents coming home so that we could go swimming, so too do we anticipate and prepare for Christ’s return – so that we are ready, whenever that time may be, to say “Bring on the Kingdom!”
As a kid, my favorite thing in the whole world was to go swimming. At a friend’s pool, at the lake, the ocean – didn’t matter. I loved going swimming. So when my parents would promise me that we were going to go swimming – my response was normally to run around and get ready so when they got home for work or errands or whatever they were doing – I was all ready to go. Swimsuit was on – pool accessories were packed. I’d even cleaned the kitchen and done some chores around the house so that when my parents got home – they’d have less work to do so we could leave sooner.
So it makes me wonder… if I’m so ready and eager and running around getting things ready just so I can go swimming… why do I not spend more time running around, getting things ready for God’s coming Kingdom?
I mean, it’s kind of the same thing, isn’t? God’s made us a promise – that it is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. What a promise. That all God wants to do is give us His Kingdom.
And yet – we spend so little of our time preparing for that coming Kingdom. Preparing for Christ’s return. And then I realized – part of the problem is, do we really even know HOW to prepare for the coming Kingdom? Do we really even, if we’re honest, look forward to it?
I remember once talking to a friend years ago about Christ’s second coming – and her response was, “I hope it’s not yet – there’s so much I still want to do.”
I was slightly taken aback by that… the desire to cling to this world so much that you aren’t ready – and don’t want – God’s Kingdom to come?
But how often HAVE we thought or said that? “I hope Jesus doesn’t return today because I have “X” I want to do still…” Maybe a fun vacation, or event we want to participate in.
And maybe, just maybe, part of what drives such a response from us is do we really even BELIEVE that God’s Kingdom is going to come? Can we even fathom what that would be like? Because, let’s face it – when we look at the world around us, it sometimes seems like God’s Kingdom on earth is an impossible feat to accomplish. Can it really exist in a world that is still so overrun with so much violence, evil, greed, and self-centeredness? In a world where Christians don’t even act like Christians much of the time?
Plus, it’s so hard for us to imagine what God’s Kingdom is going to even look like that we almost fear it breaking into our world and changing what we know, what we do.
I mean, we know that God’s Kingdom has come already in the person of Jesus Christ, but to have it come in its fullness – where wolves lie down with sheep. Where swords, our weapons of war, are turned into blades for plows. Where nations stream to the city of God for healing.
It’s hard to see that happening in our world. It’s hard to imagine what our lives would look like, doesn’t it? If God’s Kingdom suddenly came. What would our lives be? What would they look like? The whole thing at times seems more like a fantasy than a promise. One that can be hard to have faith in when we see all the horrible things that happen throughout the world. 24 hour global news networks have given us such a glimpse into what happens around our world that we seem almost farther than ever from achieving God’s vision for us.
So – what are we to do? For some – their response is to just sit back and enjoy the show. Let the world blow itself up because that’s just all sort of some grand plan of God’s to deal with us.
And yet – to sit back and watch… isn’t what Jesus is calling us to do. Jesus is instead calling us to action. Jesus is calling us to participate in building that kingdom. To participate in what God is doing in our world – to change it. To bring it closer to what His vision and desire is for us so maybe it’s not quite so difficult to imagine it.
But the key is faith. Having faith that God is working in the world. That God is doing something, that He is somehow using us to bring us closer to His Kingdom.
But faith can be hard when we don’t immediately see the changes we want or expect.
Several years ago, when Mother Theresa died, there was a huge ruckus about some private letters she had written that were discovered and published. Here was this woman, who had dedicated her life to helping the poor and needy, living in the streets of Calcutta, India – trying to do exactly what she felt she had been called by God to do to help bring Jesus – and God’s Kingdom – into the lives of those who had no hope and seemingly no future.
In those letters she confessed that she did not feel God’s presence in her later years the way she had when she had begun her ministry. In her earlier years, when she had become a nun and been driven to the streets of Calcutta, she had known and felt God’s presence so clearly… but then… that seemed to fade a bit. And doubt seeped in.
Yet, Mother Theresa didn’t stop her ministry. She didn’t just quit because she no longer felt that strong presence like she once had.
Instead – she now was forced to rely solely on… her faith. “The assurance of things hoped for. The conviction of things not seen.”
That is how Hebrews defines faith.
Non-Christians tried to use this confession to say “see, even Mother Theresa didn’t really believe!”
That’s a misunderstanding of what Mother Theresa’s point was in writing those letters. Did she have doubts? Did she long for God’s presence to be like it had been earlier in her life? Yes.
But that’s part of the faith life. We don’t always feel it clearly. God’s presence, at times, can seem very far away. As though we’ve been abandoned or neglected. Jesus used the word “forsaken” in his cry from the cross. My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
Faith, however, isn’t about feeling God’s presence every moment of every day. It’s about the times you DON’T feel God’s presence. When you are still able to cling to God’s promises in the midst of doubt, fear, and uncertainty – that’s true faith. It’s not faith anymore when you can see, feel, hear and touch it.
Hebrews runs through this litany of people in the Bible who, by faith, were led to do things that they never saw come to fruition. The promise from God was to go forth and do things that built up His Kingdom – but they didn’t ever live to see the promise come to fulfillment.
We, too, live in a time of promise. We live in the midst of partial fulfillment – Christ has come, bringing with Him, God’s Kingdom – but there is still more to the promise that we wait upon. That Kingdom that Christ is ushering in – we live awaiting its fulfillment. Having faith that it will one day be realized – and it is something we both desire and fear. Maybe we live to see it. Maybe we don’t.
Either way, like Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets… we continue to live on as people of faith. Waiting – but not just sitting around doing nothing. None of the people mentioned in Hebrews 11 were told to just sit and watch. They had tasks. They were building toward something. Toward a future that they had faith God would eventually bring about.
God’s purpose was to use their work and build on it. Building toward His Kingdom. So we too are tasked with participating in building up God’s Kingdom here on earth.
There’s a bumper sticker that I’ve seen that says “Jesus is Coming – Look Busy.” I’m not one who is usually into bumper stickers, especially not “bumper sticker faith” – but this one has a point. Jesus doesn’t want to find us sitting on our hands having done nothing to further his Kingdom in our world. He expects to find us doing his work in the world at any given time.
Like that little girl I used to be who so anticipated my parents coming home so that we could go swimming, so too do we anticipate and prepare for Christ’s return – so that we are ready, whenever that time may be, to say “Bring on the Kingdom!”
No comments:
Post a Comment