God’s Kingdom? We are taught to pray “Your Kingdom come” yet what does this look like, how is it built on the rubble of this fallen world? When praying for our city I once had a picture of golden threads, weaving their way through lives, criss-crossing areas and institutions, linking people and places. We perceive silver and gold as permanent because they were formed in the stars before the earth began! And I believe these Kingdom threads to be the same, they are permanent, seen and recorded in the heavenlies, sown into our lives and the lives of those around us. And yes, this means that God’s Kingdom can be built into a person or place – woven, sewn, interweaved and yet that person or place not acknowledge it to be Christ’s legacy at work. This Kingdom work is vital and ground changing, taking a school from ordinary to extraordinary, transforming patient care into care that connects, restores and goes beyond its perimeter. Kingdom work can keep safe the vulnerable, provide dignity for the confused or freedom for the disabled. Kingdom friendship can protect families, rebuild marriages and heal relationships! And little by little it changes the soil in the lives of God’s children, hardened ground gets softer, stony land is filtered. The weeds die back to create fertile conditions.
In the parable of the sower we learn that what counts is where the seed falls! Kingdom threads change the ground in the families, schools, hospitals, businesses or government. This can be hard work, to continue to sow in kindness, past exhaustion, to weave in vision and hope where there is apathy, or stand up for Kingdom values in a sea of selfishness. Yet, these threads are not insignificant. They are gold that stands the test of time, treasure that is recognised beyond this crumbling world. They are life riches that sustain and empower us through this world and into the next!
Thank you Kingdom weavers of past and present! We all join with a creative God, in the work of bringing His Kingdom to earth.
