I anxiously await the day when there is a new heaven and a new earth. Christ will sit on the throne. There will be no need for a sun, for Christ is the Light. The lion will lie down with the lamb. The beauty will surpass even the wildest beauty I can imagine. I anxiously await the Kingdom of God; do you?
As anxious as I am for His kingdom, the Father is even more anxious for me to be a part of it. So anxious is He that He gives His flock a foretaste of the Kingdom, for the Kingdom of God is within you and I.
Many Christians miss this: the Kingdom is within us, or in our souls. One reason they miss it is because modern Bible translations miss it. We find that statement in Luke 17:21 in the King James Version. “The Kingdom of God is within you.” The NIV, though, and many other translations, put it this way “The Kingdom of God is in your midst.” Big difference.
The Greek word translated either “within you” or “in the midst” is entos, which literally means inside, or “in your soul.”
Is it too much to think that God’s Kingdom begins in our hearts? Maybe it is. Maybe the reason it is so difficult to imagine is because so few Christians actually accept Jesus as king in their lives.
Following Jesus is not simply believing that He exists. It is not just believing in the concept that He is God. Following Jesus is more than saying a prayer, asking Him to come into our hearts.
Following Jesus is repentance from the ways of man and adherence to the ways of God. It is walking in Christ’s footsteps. It is a day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute, breath-by-breath, thought-by-thought relationship with our Creator and Lord.
Such a relationship can begin only with absolute surrender to Him, and absolutely allowing Him to rid our lives of the filth and fill our lives with His love. Only then may we get a foretaste of the Kingdom of God.
Fear Not for it’s God’s pleasure to give us His Kingdom.
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