The Kingdom of Heaven

by Keith Gardner

“…your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” [Matthew 6:10 (NIV)]

It is easy to get our thinking cockeyed whenever we delve into the Word of God. We come at it with our own preconceived ideas about who God is and who He is not; what is right and what is wrong. Most of our maturing as believers is God’s efforts to correct our wrong notions. It is His plan that we know Him, not only through knowledge, but through relationship as well. Knowing God’s word is a good thing, but not at the expense of knowing Him. Experiencing the presence of the Lord is a good thing, but not in a matter that is inconsistent with who He is, as demonstrated in His Word. The Word and the experience are both required to give a complete understanding of who the Father is. 

Talk (alone) is cheap, especially when the conversation is about who God is: “For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (1 Corinthians 4:20 ASV). The Kingdom of God, or the abode of God, is not about what I think I know, or what I want everyone else to think I know. It is not about how smart I think I am. The abode of God is about His greatness. His greatness is not demonstrated in knowing but in experiencing. God does not need to show Himself great – He is great; He prefers to show Himself real. It is when I experience God, that He becomes real. Experiencing God comes at the crucible of the trial, and is demonstrated though obedience.

My preconceived ideas also tend to give me preferences on how I satisfy my religious requirements. My tendency is to make rules and prescriptions that define what it looks like to be a “good” Christian. But the mind conceived regulations never satisfy God’s description of holiness and fall very short of heavenly expectations. “…for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17 ASV). The abode of God is not about my preferences, it is not about my likes and dislikes. The abode of God is about relaxing and enjoying the righteousness of God and enjoying the process of being made righteous in Him.

Too often my ideas about the kingdom of heaven more closely resemble my kingdom of comforts. Having a relationship with the Father is simple; He did all the work (John 3:16); but it is not easy. It requires effort on my part (Philippians 2:12-13). “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matthew 11:12 NIV). The abode of God is passing by with force, am I willing to grab on to it with the fury of desperation? This forceful kingdom is not a flash in the pan. It is not a flower that is brilliant today, but fades tomorrow. It is being established in and around the lives of the obedient. Grabbing hold of the kingdom requires a determination to rest. It takes a great deal of effort to relax in who God is; to rest in His ability to work all things out for good as He defines it. Our great struggle comes because we think God is here to make our lives easy, when in fact, His intention is to make us perfect (Matt. 5:48).

Father, I want to know you, and I want to experience you. I want you to be real in my life, and I want that realness to change who I am and how I think. I want knowing you to be reflected in how I treat others, what I spend my time doing, and what occupies my thinking. It is no longer enough for me to say I am a Christian. I want being a Christian to be self-evident. I want to live within the wall of the Kingdom of God, and I look forward to understanding all the privileges and responsibilities of my new home.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.