The Long View

Why don’t you do something?

A common question asked in our world. It can be asked of: governments, churches, parents, kids, other leaders, ourselves, and at times we ask this of God.

We need hearing aids.

Jesus says at the beginning of the first parable of the kingdom, to listen up. He also says it at the end of his explanation. I do not have hearing aids yet but some of you do and they can be a very touchy and tricky device.

The issue you and I face is that we need hearing aids to actually hear the voice of Jesus and not the voice of those around us. The world, and every news station is getting louder and louder. Our ears and brains can only handle so much noise.

God has a plan.

We know this to be true. We see this at time.

There is an enemy of God.

He also has a plan. We cannot lose sight of this. This world will never be completely good nor Christian, until Jesus comes back.

The kingdom looks ordinary.

At first glance the wheat and the weeds looks the same. So it may be with us. We need to realize this and give ourselves and others grace. We may not at first glance be able to tell which is which. Some who do not look like “Christians” may actually be so. Some who do like “Christians” may not be.

We need a long-term view mindset.

Sometimes we want what we want and we want it NOW!!! This is not the mindset of the Kingdom of God. This is especially true when it comes to seeing and experiencing evil, horror, and all that is wrong with the world. We want it gone and we want it gone right now. Yet, notice God, the farmer, says “no” to that request.

We need to be careful when “weeding”.

In our desire to help others grow we may unintentionally weakening the fruit of the Kingdom when we try to do the weeding. It is not always our job to do the weeding, the correcting, the challenging. We must allow the Spirit and the “farmer’s angels” do the work, at the proper time. I wonder is sometimes we have turned the fruit of the spirit’s “self control” into a way to “control others”. If you aren’t like me than...

We are losing generations because of our weeding attempts.

The future is bright.

Figuratively and literally. The hope we can keep in mind as we live out the Kingdom of God in the present is one day we will shine brighter than ever before. We have hope because the Kingdom is present now but will be brought to completion in the future. The story of those in Nazi Germany keeping hope because D-day was coming. The experience of those on the Underground railroad in hopes that one day slavery will be illegal.

The one who has ears let them hear.