The Kingdom of God is at hand. It’s here. On Earth as it is in Heaven. In you, in me, in us.
Citizenship into the Kingdom of God is simple, we enter it like a child. This means we are born into it as God’s children. The Kingdom is ours not because of what we do, but because of who we are.
But, many of us don’t know who we are and we don’t know what Kingdom we belong in. The life of God is in us, otherwise we wouldn’t be here. The Kingdom of God is all around us, near us and in us, but we don’t know that because we can’t see that.
We see ourselves as separate from God, needing his forgiveness, his mercy, his favor, not knowing He has never left us, that He can’t and won’t pull Himself out of us. Or, we look around and see a world so broken, we can hardly imagine that there is a God. After all, how could a Creator, a Father, abandon his creations and leave them to deal with the mess we can’t help but make?
Look at the struggles of the world, the hurt, the fear, the anger, the distrust. How can the Kingdom be here? Where is it? Where is God?
It is here. God is here. In you. In me.
But we will not see it until we start looking through the eyes of God’s Child, our true eyes.
When we wake to who we are, our eyes open to the Kingdom. And it is here. It’s waiting for the Children of God (for us) to open their eyes.
This may be hard to take in and if you can’t take it in, well, it’s hard to imagine that the Kingdom is all around us, or comes from with in us. I get that.
So, I’ll tell you what a friend told me about the Kingdom. I was having trouble grasping it. But my friend could see it clearly and he was always speaking of what the Kingdom was like. This is what he told me:
The Kingdom of God is not a kingdom of violence. It does not wage war, or use hatred, to overcome the “unrighteous.”
The Kingdom of God is not kingdom of silence. It does not stand idly by while others are oppressed or made to suffer by the ruling establishments that have taken their place of power.
The Kingdom of God is not passive. It does not wait for God to sweep through and save the day.
The Kingdom of God expresses the way of Love, and the nature of God, and so do it’s children.
The Kingdom comes through the lives of it’s children, through their actions, and through the nature that is in them.
The Child of God loves justice. They stand up for equality, the less fortunate, the neglected, the “different.” They do not turn a blind eye to wrongs, to color, to poverty, to oppression. They do not close their ears from cries of desperation, inequality, and injustice.
The Child of God is moved with compassion. They know what they do for the “least of these” they do for the “whole of us.” They see the life of God in their neighbors of colors, religions, nationalities, and identities. They see the ONE in ALL.
The Child of God lives humbly, reverently, and wonderfully in awe of the all encompassing presence of the Father, the Mother, the Nurturer, the Lover, and the Healer of ALL things. And in that humility, they walk, they act, with God, through God acting and being with them, through them. They move as One, as only they can be.
And, the Child of God stands. With eyes wide open, God’s child stands against all odds, against all unfairness, against all pain, against all rumors, against all lies, and against all fear. They stand for truth, for love, for others, for God. They are warriors of peace, of love, and of light.
That’s what the Kingdom of God is like. That’s what YOUR kingdom is like. You are God’s child, you have His likeness, His power, and His Love. And as such, you have His Kingdom - all that He has is yours, is mine, is theirs, is ours. If we can just wake and realize Who we are, Whose we are, we will see that the Kingdom is truly at hand.