Eternal Kingdom, Passing Kingdoms
I have had the Lord’s Prayer on my mind lately. Probably a good thing to have in my mind but better offered by my lips daily. The line that we all have prayed so many times is so relevant in our current moment. Read and pray it with me:
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Whenever we pray, we know from scripture that God hears, and he answers. We often say that God sometimes doesn’t answer on our timeline. Maybe that is right, and maybe God answers immediately, but we do not yet have the ability to see what God has done and is doing in any earthly and particular moment.
Here is another passage from scripture that is on my mind. This one from Isaiah:
“All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
This one is on my mind because of age. The good news is that if we are aging, then we are still here. And we all know that Isaiah was right: “All flesh is grass,” and grass withers and dies. Watching my elderly friends and family grow older, I see that the frailty is visible. At some point, it becomes obvious to each of us when we are bold enough to look in the mirror. Honest eyes can see that our bodies don’t look the same as they used to.
Age is also on my mind as I consider the age of the USA, where I have been privileged to have been born and have been blessed to live in. I marvel at both the youth of our country and the fact that we are now 250 years old.
Some who know me well know that I am not one to do much celebrating. I am pretty low key about birthdays and holidays. I am the guy that more than once showed up at work on a holiday because it just wasn’t on my radar! I have to remember to celebrate birthdays of my family members because I am perfectly fine to simply treat my birthday as just another day. I am grateful to be alive and have lived many years, but celebrating the day I was born is just not something I think about.
I am proud to live in a country that has these words in the very beginning of our Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I sometimes get a little teary when I hear our national anthem. I recently visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia and sat in the room where our early Congress and Senate met, and as I sat there and walked around Independence Hall, and later the Liberty Bell, I was deeply touched and proud to call America my home.
Ephesians 1:10 says: “As a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.” These words come in the opening section of Ephesians where Paul is describing the many blessings that are ours in Christ. Here Paul reminds us that there is a moment coming, the fullness of time, where God will unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.
We are back to our prayer about God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. And we are back to my earlier comments about age. The things that God will unite in the fullness of time are things that bear his image and reflect the eternal truths of his kingdom and reflect his glory.
There will be a day when we will not be divided by human governments and institutions, no matter how great they may have been during our time on earth. One of the important things to remember as we prepare to celebrate our country and our freedom has to do with what is a first thing and what is everything else.
In John 18, as Jesus stood before Pilate, he was clear that his kingdom was not of this world. As followers of Christ, we can celebrate the wonderful land where we live, but we must not and cannot ever mix up our loyalty and devotion. Jesus and his kingdom are first and above all else.
So, as we move closer to the celebration of our 250th birthday, I pray that we always remember that the freedom we have from the bondage of sin and the gift of being Christ’s ambassadors in his kingdom is eternal. And we can be thankful for our homeland while we live and move toward our eternal home where the eternal things of God are united with what is eternal in us.
Father, today we are grateful for Jesus. Thank you for sending your Son, that we might be forgiven of our sin and restored and claimed as your children. Thank you for the freedom we have from sin and the freedom that we have to serve others in your name.
We are also grateful that you allow us to live in a free country. We pray that our leaders would seek your face and your will. We pray for them, that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Isaiah 40:6-8; Matthew 6:10 ESV
Photo by Pexels
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