God’s kingdom and a sincere heart – a winning combination
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In the Gospel passage from Matthew 13, heard recently in many Christian liturgies, we hear Jesus once again talking about the “kingdom” —this “thing” that was incredibly difficult for the disciples to understand and wrap their minds around. And of course, it’s hard for us to understand too. Jesus does his best to unpack the meaning of the “kingdom” for them — comparing it to a treasure buried in a field and to a pearl of great price and to a net thrown into the sea collecting fish of every kind. And while these descriptions don’t completely “explain” what the kingdom is, they do make one thing perfectly clear — God’s kingdom is something precious and should be desired above nearly everything else.
I guess that really shouldn’t surprise us. After all, we pray the words “Thy kingdom come” every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer. Yet, do we ever stop and think about how that will come about? Those words might sound like we are simply encouraging God to do what he wants, that it’s all up to him, and that we are simply on the sidelines cheering him on. But the very next line in the prayer is “Thy will be done,” —- and that should tell us something. You see, God’s kingdom “comes” about when God’s will is being done. And God’s will is being “done” when God does his part,which he always does, and when we do ours. And that’s when things get a little tricky. The truth is, it’s simpler and easier for us to believe that all we have to do is ask God to bring about the world he wants, and then leave it to him. After all, he created this world. He knows what he wants it to be. And he has the power to bring it about. Our job is simply to say we are on board with what God wants and then get out of his way. Or is it?
The kingdom won’t simply come about by praying for it. The kingdom comes about and is made more visible when we are willing to work toward bringing it about. It’s not going to come about solely from the outside. It’s going to come about through us (with God’s help of course), through our individual acts of kindness and mercy and generosity and love. And that comes from the inside.
God’s kingdom is a precious thing. He never wants us to forget that. But he also doesn’t want us to forget that we play a critical role in bringing it about. And so each time we say the Lord’s Prayer and utter the words “They kingdom come, thy will be done,” let’s be sure not to hear those words simply as a plea to God, but also as a challenge to and promise from us to not let our God-given potential go to waste. Rather, let’s combine the good in us with a sincere heart and a willingness to do “whatever it takes” to make God’s kingdom more visible each and every day. Now that’s a winning combination!