The Light in Our Eyesਨਮੂਨਾ

A NEW DAY

So on the one hand, we need to avoid the gospel of escape that says this world doesn’t matter. But on the other hand, we need to avoid the gospel of paganism that says God is our instrument for making the world the way we want it. Rather, the gospel is about the remarriage of God and humanity.

Jesus goes out of His way to show us His kingdom isn’t just some distant reality we all need to twiddle our thumbs and wait for. It’s also not an earthly political kingdom that can be established, right now, by our power. It’s an already-present reality we can experience, embody, and extend into the world, here and now.

Jesus’s vision isn’t one of doom and gloom. It’s a vision of a kingdom growing slowly and coun­terintuitively through history:

Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Luke 13:18–21)

Jesus pic­tures the kingdom of God growing and growing—not through power and politics but through the kind of organic growth you see in the yeast of bread or the seed of a tree as we each experience, embody, and extend His kingdom to­ward others.

I’ve seen many people dechurch over the past several years; it’s true. But in that same time, I’ve also seen far more people come to Jesus than I’ve seen before. I truly believe that if we meet the moment right, this isn’t the end of something. It’s the beginning.

Do we believe Jesus’s kingdom is something we can participate in here and now? Do we believe His kingdom is growing—and has been growing for the past two thousand years—like He promised? We did once. We can do it again, if we recapture Jesus’s dreams.

How does the idea of God’s kingdom growing slowly and counterintuitively shape your perspective on the world today? How does Jesus’s promise that the kingdom is still growing encourage you?

We hope you were encouraged by this reading plan. Learn more about THE LIGHT IN OUR EYES by Nicholas McDonald click here.