Am I Building My Kingdom or am I building His Kingdom?
It is easy to lose focus. Even as I write this, I am having to force myself to be focused; there are so many things fighting for our attention in this ADHD instant world that we live in. When Christ called us to salvation, our eyes were opened. They were opened to the sin around us, the were opened to the sin in us, and they were opened the great great power He has to overcome and forgive us of that sin. How quickly and often we can forget about that great work that Christ has done in us and the great power that lives in us, that we are partakers in - “having escaped from the corruption that is in the world”.
If our eyes have been opened to the greatness and goodness of God then we should try to model Christ in everything that we do for the sake of building His kingdom. We do this through every aspect of our life, so our life screams out, “Christ is Lord”. If I am being honest, and why should I not be, I am not there yet. There are many aspects of my life that scream, “Jonathan is Lord”; there are many aspects of my life that scream, “My family is Lord”; even furthermore there are many aspects of my life that loudly scream, “money is Lord”. Many times I am more concerned about building my kingdom, my families kingdom, and my financial kingdom, than I am building His Kingdom.
In 2 Peter, Peter says that if I am not pursuing the qualities that scream “Christ Is Lord”, I am keeping myself ineffective and unfruitful for the Lord - furthermore if I lack these qualities then I am nearsighted, blind, having FORGOTTEN the truth my eyes were opened when I was saved. Peter then says, I need to be therefore highly concerned with making sure to make much of the Lord, to building His kingdom now.
It is easy to lose focus on what is important; as sad as it is to say, it is easy to forget the great power of salvation of Christ; to lose the joy of our salvation. It is easy to lose focus that building our Kingdom will accomplish nothing, while building Christ’s Kingdom will accomplish forgiveness and everlasting life in other’s lives.
Our kingdoms: ourselves, our families, our money - it all pales in comparison to the great love of His Kingdom.
Let’s be about building His Kingdom today.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:3-11
