Duh!

As you may know I have been struggling with the direction that the USA has taken in recent years and particularly in the past weeks.  I have been wondering what it is that the Lord would have ME DO about it.  I am rereading Philip Yancey's, The Jesus I Never Knew, which was given to me over ten years ago by William Parrish as a thank you for being his mentor to get his Joyful Servant Boy Scout award.  Chapter 13, "Kingdom: Wheat Among Weeds" has helped to clarify for me what should have been obvious.

Jesus and the government of his time, a kingdom, were on totally different bases.  Rome was a worldly, earthly kingdom that seldom intersected with Jesus' life.  He paid the taxes, even called Herod a "fox," but he made no effort to right the wrongs that were government imposed.  In fact, he used those injustices to accomplish his mission on the cross.  When Jesus claimed to have a kingdom, the Jews were thinking worldly kingdom.  After all God had not been their king since the time of the judges.  It was a daunting task for Jesus to help his followers to understand the nature of his kingdom.  

I perceive that today we are still thinking worldly kingdom when we hope to have a government led by Christians at all levels.  Through a study of Jesus' attempts to describe his kingdom, I have come to realize that its power is simply love.  Perhaps it is too simple.  Philippians 2:5-11 shows us the extent of Jesus' love.  He was in nature a servant because of his great love.  His love obliterated any thought of self.  It showed in his mercy, both on the physically sick and the spiritually sick.  It drew people to him. It confounded the leaders, both religious and secular.  It was like an invisible "gorilla" force, humbly and quietly empowering his kingdom to bring that love to more and more people.  The worldly kingdoms of this world have not power or defense against it because it is spiritual in nature.

I do not relish being persecuted for my faith, but that indeed may be the way my light best shines to God's glory.  The more the church has been deterred, the faster it has grown, historically.  The sorry state of Christianity today in the USA is due largely to complacency due to lack of persecution.  The remedy?  Unleash the power: love.  I need to be a better servant, modeling my life after Jesus.  Isn't that always been what the kingdom has been about?  Duh!