Photo credit: Erin Gupton
Below you will find my entry for this year's guide...
Kingdom living. For me it's a somewhat new phrase in church circles today. Growing up in churches of Christ my entire life, I wasn't familiar with certain terms like witness, testimony, and revival. When I got a little bit older in college, I began to figure out that these terms are very beautiful and are a huge part of a Christian walk.
In the last year or so I've heard the term kingdom living or kingdom purpose. I even use it in my conversations these days. But what exactly does it mean? What is our purpose in God's kingdom? How are we supposed to live?
When I found out this was my topic for the devotional guide, I decided to reach out to a large group of friends, family, and church leaders that I've looked up to for years. I asked them two questions: 1. What is kingdom living? 2. What is our purpose in God's kingdom?
I loved delving into all of the answers. Some were very lengthy. Some were short and to the point. A few people responded immediately, while others took a few days and put quite a bit of thought into it. Through all the responses though, it was very easy to see a summary that they all agreed upon.
Our kingdom purpose... Love God and love others.
And I'm in total agreement! Our Father's purpose for us is to love. A simple four letter word. And there's a hierarchy of who we should love first second and third. We are told that the first commandment and most important commandment is to love God and the second is to love others as ourselves. So naturally we come last. So as we chant at an afterschool program I'm a part of on Wednesdays for children in our local community...
Love God.
Love others.
Love yourself.
One Wednesday, I had a little friend asked me, "Ms. Aletha is it really that easy? He just wants us to love?"
I believe it is. In today's American church we are obsessed with making things a lot more complicated than they need to be. Friends, kingdom living isn't sitting in a comfortable, cool church building. It isn't ritualistic and full of rules. It isn't a business. It isn't about what makes us feel happy and good. It isn't about how much biblical knowledge we have stored up in our brains.
It is about just what it says it is...LIVING for our KING. And everything He did while on this earth was steeped in and oozed love.
So after asking this group of folks these questions, it hit me if I had really looked at their lives the answers were already there. I need not ask questions...I just needed to watch, listen, and learn.
Kingdom Living is the youth minister who loves on kids with humor. He meets them for school lunches and cheers them on at football games. He meets their friends and welcomes them all into his circle.
Kingdom Living is the young missionary mom. She follows the beatitude to seek justice and mercy. She helps rescue young women from sex trafficking in foreign lands. She travels abroad to grow her family, taking a six year old girl as her daughter.
Kingdom living is the small town bank president who shows Jesus to his employees and customers. He is forgiving. He is intentional. He is wise, but humble.
Kingdom living is seen in the middle aged grandmother. She loves on her children and their children, but she also seeks out "the least of these". She writes checks so children in need have school supplies and shoes. She doesn't stop there though. She spends many afternoons a year teaching children how to serve and love others.
Kingdom living is graced with tattoos and piercings. It's going on in generations young and old alike. It's quiet, but other times it's loud. Sometimes it's a bit chaotic and messy. But it's beautiful all of the time, drenched in various shapes, forms and fashions of that little four letter word...love.
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