Be The Lightનમૂનો

Kingdom of Light

I spend a lot of time thinking about the Kingdom of God.

While there’s no physical kingdom to look at, the scriptures tell us a lot about what it might look like. Jesus said it’s like a mustard seed: greatness hidden in unassuming places. Like buried treasure. Like a net that catches every kind of fish. He also told us the Kingdom of God is at hand. It’s here, now. We wait with hope for the promise of eternity, but we have the promise now, too. The kingdom is here and it’s there. It’s not yet. It’s already.

What does that mean? It means that when we enter into spiritual relationship with God, when we are raised to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are born into a new kingdom. Not a kingdom of men. Not a kingdom of violence and greed, of war and famine, of hoarders and homeless. It’s a kingdom where the least are made great, where the forgotten are prioritized, and we bear our struggles together.

The writer of Acts is aware of this double kingdom. He tells a story of Paul and Barnabas taking the Gospel of Jesus to the last people who should have had a chance to hear it: the Gentiles. He says Paul and Barnabas were a light to the Gentiles, people who had lived in darkness since forever.

That’s us. We’re the Gentiles.

BUT it doesn’t stop there. Because we have been shown the light, we can also bring the light with us wherever we go. The Kingdom of God is here on Earth now, because we carry it with us. We bring light to the world when we live according to the Kingdom of God and not the kingdoms of people. When we choose justice over selfishness. When we choose love over greed. When we choose sacrifice over comfort. We are like Paul and Barnabas, bringing light to the very people who seem least deserving. People like us, who have lived in darkness since forever, who are waiting to see the light of heaven.

1. Consider the ways you are living in God’s Kingdom.

2. How much of your life is spent living for the values of earthly kingdoms?

3. PRAY: God, let me be the light in the darkness. Let me be the embodiment of your coming kingdom here, now. May the “not yet” become “already” in me.