When Christ arrived on the earth (despite so many prophecies), many at that time missed it. They were looking for a Messiah that would come and set up a kingdom on earth that put the Roman Empire out of business. They believed the kingdom would look more like the earthly kingdoms they had known. But during the years He walked the earth and taught them, He told them in parables and other teachings that it was quite different than they had imagined. Some began to see the truth, but others did not accept this as the true Messiah and King.

When Christ ascended into heaven following his resurrection, He left the disciples to lead and establish his kingdom here on earth. What a challenging task for this group and despite all odds against them, the survival of the church today gives testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit operating in them to bring about just that. But as we await his return, are we missing what it means to live out the kingdom as aliens in a fallen world?

The dictionary tells us what a kingdom is: “a country, state, or territory ruled by a king or queen”. The definition implies governance and political power, but what does that mean now when the King is not present on earth and yet we are to be building the kingdom that is not defined by geographical boundaries or the conventional things we know of kingdoms such as politics?

Eugene Peterson quotes Richard Neuhaus in Reversed Thunder for a description of politics:

“Politics reaches into dimensions of behavior and belief. The authority of government is exercised to maintain order, defined by civic and criminal law (otherwise there is babel). Most political systems ranging from family to empire, combine the elements of government and religion, as the Romans did. American democracy separates them. But combined or separate, the two elements are still there, parallel in their political importance.”

Eugene Peterson quoting Richard Neuhaus

Eugene Peterson further points out the challenge in looking at politics and how the kingdom is defined that is that of Christ’s:

“Politics involves two elements: the exercise of ruling power and the means by which that power is exercised. People love to hear that God is powerful and that he rules; they are not as enthusiastic when they discover the means by which he exercises his ruling power.”

Eugene Peterson

Albert Schweitzer saw what we may miss. The kingdom of God begins and sets forth its power and principles in each of our hearts. It is that simple, that complicated, and that which He most desires us to understand. Without that the kingdom of God He is returning to fully establish will not be ready for what his rule will look like when He reigns fully on earth.

Though we may well participate in the political system of this world and be called to do so as his representative, if the evidence of the Kingdom of God emanating from our hearts does not look like Him we have not understood the mission. We may be called to speak light into darkness, but our life must first reflect Him, before we seek to find words that do.

The challenge each day is to allow Christ to rule in our hearts (even in the attic, closets, and basement) so that we are wholly his and He can use us for his purposes. To do that we must keep straight the use of the word “kingdom” according to his design. We must understand how our words must be used with his wisdom and discernment and reflect Him.

“The political metaphor, “kingdom,” insists on a gospel that includes everything and everyone under the rule of God. God is no religious glow to warm a dark night. Christ is no esoteric truth with which to form a gnostic elite. The Christian faith is an out-in-the-open, strenuous, legislating, conquering totality. God is sovereign: nothing and no one is exempt from his rule.”

Eugene Peterson in Reversed Thunder

To have the kingdom of God ruling and reigning in our hearts we must attend to what He has told us is most vital – to love Him with all our heart, mind, and spirit and then to love others as He has taught and lived out for us to see. To do so means we must keep the whole of his Word affixed to our hearts so that it becomes engrafted there and guides each moment.

It will NEVER be easy, but what He calls us to He equips us to as we rely on the power, He has entrusted to us.

Photo by Aydın Kiraz from Pexels

One of my favorite activities growing up was coloring in a coloring book. I was always a lousy artist, but this was my substitute back in the days before iPods, iPads, and an assortment of electronics that captivate children today. There are several adults in our family who still enjoy coloring in those wonderful new intricately designed books that are popular now. Sometimes I join them.

The one disappointment for me in childhood was never having the big box that gave me every shade I might want to consider as I colored in my pages. In most areas of my life, I enjoy a lot of variety. It shows up with that desire for more different crayons and in the wide variety of music that I enjoy as well.

It doesn’t stop there.

I love getting to know different people, learning about their stories, hearing about the paths where the Lord has led them, finding out what excites them and fuels their passions, and how the harder times in their lives were used by the Lord. Yes, I am an extrovert, but I most prefer sitting with one person while we share a great latte or cup of tea for an unrushed time of relating.

Taking time to listen, share stories, and getting to know someone beyond the quick greeting on a shopping trip or even at church is an investment well worth the time. That kind of relating not only allows us to know someone else better, but we also see glimpses of the Lord and often learn something about ourselves in the process if we are listening well.

Most of us would say we are “busy”, but busy and urgent should never take the place of better and important.

I love and so much agree with this quote by Barbara Bush:

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, or a parent.”

Sometimes we get in the way of opportunities relationally because of our own perspective about others or ourselves. We may believe we have nothing to offer the other person. We may believe that we have nothing in common.

And we may be wrong.

When I finished reading Unified by Tim Scott and Trey Gowdy, I was reminded of the blessings that can come from unlikely friendships where we set aside our misperceptions. Listen to one of the things Trey writes in the book:

“I don’t care how great things appear to be going in someone else’s life; we all need somebody we can trust, that we can be fully candid with, and who will give us the best advice for us and not just for them.”

A few paragraphs later he adds:

“Relationships where people put the other person first and remain committed to giving their best counsel for the benefit of the other person are few and far between……Once you know someone will keep a confidence, give you sound counsel, and genuinely have your best interest at heart, there is no limit to what you can share, and there is no limit to what can be gained.”

One of the things that stands out to me is how often Jesus took time to relate to people. Yes, He spoke and taught huge crowds at various points, but the gospels give us many glimpses of how He noticed someone that others bypassed. He took time for conversations with some that his earthly heritage and religious teaching would have told Him to avoid.

Jesus never compromised who He was in the process of valuing someone else enough to take time to listen and engage with him or her.

Polarization and divisiveness are so commonplace today that we can be tempted to think our differences are too great to have any common ground. But what would happen if we had a real desire to get to know someone beyond the differences? What if we utilized that knowledge and those different perspectives to make each other better?  What if we were to look for common ground at a heart level first?

I think we learn far less if we stick with only those who look like us, think like us, come from our side of town, or have the same educational background.

Consider the unlikely friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel of the Old Testament. David was a shepherd boy who knew how to sing and initially brought peace to the troubled heart of Jonathan’s father, King Saul. Jonathan was of royal blood and privilege. These two would not have typically developed a friendship much less one of a covenantal depth. They would have been from opposite sides of town in those days, but spending time together allowed them to know each other’s hearts until they were knit in an exceptional bond of friendship that caused Jonathan to risk his father’s rejection rather than betray David.

When we look for a solution to our divided culture, our search seems to be in the wrong place. It won’t come from a program or any number of other forums. I think Tim Scott describes a better way in Unified:

“Politics is not going to change the nation. We will change the nation only by changing the condition of the human heart. And that can only happen through love. True friendship is born out of acceptance and unconditional love – a love that is consistent and intentional.”

The Lord’s challenge to us is always about love. Our challenge is to remember He is the source of love within us, and we need to model love as He did.

The love of Jesus was and is always consistent and intentional.

That is where we start.

One of the things that likely impacts how you and I respond to evil stems from how we define it. It can be easy in the current culture to call something or someone “evil” because we disagree with it or them or if it or they offend us. We need to consider our label carefully before we bandy it about as true.

Until we are clear on what evil is and its source, we will fall prey to its influence and our responses will be tepid, misguided, or absent.

Evil is defined as something that is “morally wrong or bad, immoral or wicked deeds, embodying or associated with the forces of the devil.” It is not an opinion or a preference. Scripture is undoubtedly the best source of clarification of when that label is appropriate.

Because evil is so reprehensible it would seem we should be able to call it for what it is and confront it for what it is. Yet history shows in every nation and culture we can be slow to do that very thing if it isn’t impacting us directly. It can almost appear we have accepted the inevitable since we know that until the Lord returns, and evil is judged once and for all that it will be present on the earth.

We may feel powerless in the face of it despite the power of the Holy Spirit within us if we are God’s children. Perhaps we tremble in fear. The key is whether we seek His counsel and direction at such a time.

Two recent books I have read have brought evil sharply into focus. One focuses on the brave men and women in the Underground Railroad who risked death, fines, and imprisonment to help American slaves flee to Canada for freedom before the American Civil War. The other looks at men and women who risked similar consequences for trying to protect Jews less than a hundred years later.

Today despite our “instant” access to news we can forget nearly 215 million Christians face high persecution for their faith. We don’t hear much about that on the news and sometimes not in our churches.

When I consider how I might respond to evil I am drawn to the heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11 as well as others who responded with courage, wisdom, and discernment. Here are quotes from just a few of those who stood against evil.

William Wilberforce faced evil head on and wrote these words:

“A private faith that does not act in the face of oppression is no faith at all.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced difficult choices without compromise when he wrote and spoke. Here is one of numerous examples:

“We must learn to regard people less in light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.”

Elisabeth Elliot in the face of the grievous loss of her husband faced the evil that took him with love and forgiveness. Listen to her wisdom for us:

“We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem. We receive his poured-out life and being allowed the high privilege of suffering with Him, may then pour ourselves out for others.”

Solzhenitsyn left this powerful challenge to consider in The Gulag Archipelago:

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are replanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

How do we respond to evil?

We start by defining it for what it is and its true source and then seek the Lord for guidance on our response to it when we are faced with it. Above all, we must consider the words of Isaiah.

Isaiah admonishes us about the need to discern rightly what is evil and what is good:

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!”

Isaiah 5:20-21 (ESV)