Day 6 – Thy Kingdom Come…….

Suppose Mr. X worked for the largest multi-national corporation in the world and one day received a message from the upper echelons that he would be transferred to Japan  in 15 months to go head the company there. Now, say this is the dream offer he had patiently been waiting for. The only caveat is that it would be a permanent transition. He would have to retire from that position.

It would probably be a mixture of emotions, being uprooted from familiar territory into the unknown,  even if it was an exotic unknown. Well, his prayer had been answered, so he begins to plan his move, making a time-line of things to be done in preparation even as he carries out his day-to-day work at his current location.

First, learn the language. Get an online program and begin to take baby steps in speaking the language. Then learn the culture. Japan is known for its peculiar cultural ethics: slurping one’s soup is complimentary to the chef ; taking off shoes in a home and using special toilet slippers in a bathroom is expected…..To the extent he can, he begins to incorporate some of these practices into his present life. He is enthusiastically getting ready for the big move.

The analogy is obvious. When we  implore ‘Thy Kingdom come, thine will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ in the Lord’s Prayer, we are affirming ourselves as subjects of God’s kingdom  and submitting to His supreme will in our lives today. Given that heaven is our destination when we transition out of this world, did Jesus give us that prayer to help us to begin to live here on earth as we expect to live in His heavenly kingdom? That is, to begin to get ready for that promotion like Mr. X did, and begin to assimilate the culture and ethics of heaven into our lives here on earth? ‘But our citizenship is in heaven’– Phil. 3:20

Mr. X planned his timeline of adjustment because he knew the effective date of his transfer. Nobody in this world, not even the most favored child of God has the privilege of knowing their timeline here on earth, nor the time of the return of Christ. But we have been warned in several places in God’s Word to be alert and always ready. It behooves us to learn how to practice here on earth, the way of life that we are looking forward to living in the next life.

It is not meant to be an easy thing. How can we translate our part of the wicked world we live into God’s Kingdom?  How can we live as if we are in heaven when everyone around us is probably full of dubious virtues? What is heaven really like? And how do the citizens who have transitioned there live? Nobody has gone there and come back to let us know. But scripture does teach us a few things about what to expect, even with our limited imagination. And we are also assured that we have the Holy Spirit to help us to live in a way that pleases God and not ourselves.

It could be helpful to imagine what inhabiting God’s Kingdom would be like. Let’s think of some attributes of our future home.

• Love: We know for starters, that the only language and currency in God’s Kingdom is Agape Love because God Himself is love. As noted in the reflections for Days 3 and 4, we can practice that on earth with the help of the Holy Spirit. Love is a cloak around us, and yet it is a choice to wear it. When we obey God and put it on, even when we don’t feel up to it, we think/speak/act the way Christ did when He was in flesh. ‘And above all, put on love which binds all the other virtues together in perfect harmony’ – Col. 3:14 paraphrased.
• Perpetual Worship and Praise: We can turn our everyday actions and words into acts of worship by doing them with the Spirit and ensuring that all we do (tasks/responsibilities/duties) will always ultimately be for God’s glory. When we keep God’s Spirit in focus in everything we do, be it  work or recreation, and not just seek temporal benefits, we are gaining an eternity perspective. Per Apostle Paul, ‘And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him’ – Col.3:17
• Living in Peace: We can make the daily choice to seek and pursue peaceful living, having been gifted with Christ’s personal peace as decreed in John 14:27.  Paul wrote ‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful’– Col. 3:15. In Phil. 4:7,  Paul also emphasized that this peace of God cannot be understood fully, because unlike the peace of the material world, it allows one to stay calm and focused on God even in the midst of troubles and setbacks. He noted that this peace was guarded in our hearts by Christ Himself. Now that sounds like a heavenly peace! It  definitely cannot make sense to those who don’t know God intimately.

These are just some of the ways we can live here on earth as if we are already at our home in  heaven. Thy Kingdom come, thine will be done (in our lives here) on earth, as it is (as if we were already living) in heaven…. 

But then we come to the realities of this world that are definitely not a part of the culture of heaven: pain, sufferings, evil, snares and traps to name a few. ‘Deliver us from evil’, Jesus taught. Spiritual wickedness is real and just as God blesses us using human beings, so does the enemy seek to destroy us by using human beings, albeit surreptitiously. Fortunately, we have been assured that Christ’s victory has overcome the power of evil. That Jesus taught us to implore God to deliver us from the evil in this world, means that we are called to pray for protection everyday, all the day.  (To be continued)

Thank you for reading today’s reflection.