Readings for today: Matthew 7-8, Psalms 84
We are entering an election season where we exercise our rights as citizens of a kingdom called the United States of America. Over the next few months, millions of dollars will be spent to fill our airwaves with messages promising the coming of a messiah. One who will save us from the existential threat of the other party. Both candidates and their campaigns are using apocalyptic imagery to suggest our nation is doomed if the other person is elected. They attack each other’s character and motives. They seek to tear down one another’s reputation. The media is complicit and joins the fray. Social media is a dumpster fire, filled with fake news and misinformation. It’s a brutal reminder of how quickly we devolve as a species. We are so prone to violence and hatred and anger and division.
Jesus offers us a different kind of citizenship. He offers us a place in a different kind of Kingdom. One marked by mercy and grace, kindness and love. One marked by humility and service, where others are considered more important than ourselves. One marked by wisdom and beauty and glory and peace. The ways of this Kingdom are far different than the ways of our little kingdoms here on earth. In fact, many of the values of Jesus’ Kingdom feel upside down to us. Naive and impractical. It’s why we struggle so much to put them into practice. And yet, Jesus promises that if we do keep His commands and align our hearts with His heart and do what He says to do, we will be building our lives on a foundation that can never be shaken.
It’s quite the contrast. I don’t know a single person - Christian or otherwise - who thinks our nation is headed for better days. Most tell me they just hope things don’t completely collapse and break down. We live with so much fear and anxiety. We medicate at high levels. We are more depressed than ever. It seems clear to me that we’ve built our life together on sand. And the storm is coming and is already here. And the foundations of our world are shaking and coming apart. In many ways, good is now evil and evil is now good. We ignore biological and sociological realities to our great peril. We’ve saddled ourselves with a debt that will take lifetimes to repay. So where do we find hope? We place our faith in Christ. We apply His Kingdom principles to our lives. We embrace the ways of His Kingdom.
Readings for tomorrow: Matthew 9-10, Psalms 85