How does walking in the Kingdom transform our RELATIONSHIPS?
We Worship.
Adoration, praise, centering our hearts on the King and His Kingdom put our relationship with God and others in their proper place. As Hebrews 12:28 expressed, our personal response to receiving an unshakable Kingdom is worship--coming to the Creator of everything and the lover of our soul with awe and reverence.
By habit or nature, we spin. We spin on things that aren't really important. We get tweaked by things that have no weight in God's economy. There is a children's game many of us played where you stand a baseball bat on its end, someone would then put their head on the raised end of the bat, spin around ten times, and then try to run in a straight line. It's hilarious as a child. It's sad as an adult, realizing that many of us are living in this way ruminating constantly on things that don't really matter.
Worship stops our spinning and draws our attention to the one person, the one place in the universe which can bring our souls what we desperately need most. I love the image in John 11 where at the tomb of Lazarus, Jesus had them roll away the stone that covered his grave, looked up and thanked His Father for having already answered his prayers. He looked up. He trusted in His good and loving Father. Our world becomes just a little more quake proof every time we draw our attention to the King and His Kingdom!
We Funnel Empathy and Veracity.
Right connectedness to the Kingdom begets relationships and responsibilities that have their proper place. Relationships are designed to serve a certain role in our lives. Wisdom is finding and fulfilling that role--no more and no less. Relationships flourish when they are right sized.
When we have relationships in their proper context, we are able to be vulnerable, take risks, to love deeply and connect properly. If we aren't walking in the Kingdom, we will miss the mark on connection. We will either distance ourselves through isolation or overly depend on people to meet our greatest needs. Both will create turmoil and strife.
Jesus demonstrated these right sized relationships in His conversation with Mary and Martha as He was on His way to Lazarus' tomb. As Tim Keller pointed out, to one sister Jesus brought truth, to the other He brought tears.
To Martha, He brought truth, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26). To Mary He brought His tears, "Jesus wept" (John 11:35).
If we are walking well in God's Kingdom, we will be full of grace, compassion, acceptance, empathy and truth. Like Jesus, we will be a servant, helping people to connect with the heart of the Father.
Q: Was Jesus disturbed by His circumstances? Sure.
Q: Did Jesus' circumstances shake him? No.
The death of Lazarus (John 11:1-44), the weeping over the blindness of the beloved in Israel (Luke 19:41-44) or the agony of prayerfully considering His impending death in the garden (Luke 22:39-46), all impacted Him without undoing Him. The unfaltering King was establishing an eternal Kingdom which cannot be shaken.
CLICK HERE to receive your free copy of the eBook, Unshakable. Life can leave us vulnerable physically, spiritually and emotionally. Learning what it means to walk in the Kingdom means we experience the values that Jesus embodied and taught when he walked here on the earth, and we become unshakable.
Begin your journey into "Transformational Kingdom Living" today.
