This is the Way

This is the Way

One of the exciting things about traveling is learning the ways of another locale - “the customary modes of behavior or practices of a group.” As a visitor, you struggle and stumble a bit as you learn the customs of an unfamiliar territory. Eventually, you return home and settle into the ways of where you live, and your actions come as easily as breathing. You don't even think about it because that's just how things are done.

What if we could grasp the reality of our citizenship in the Kingdom of God? What if living our daily lives “under the canopy of the Kingdom,” as Jamie put it, felt natural and familiar, and not at all like work? As Jesus shared the good news of the Kingdom, He often used the phrase, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like...” That was Matthew's preferred phrase for the Kingdom of God, but they are the same thing. As we examine the sixth chapter of Matthew, I hope you get a sense of what the Kingdom of God is like.

The good news is that the Holy Spirit, who resides in us as believers, makes us natives of the Kingdom, and its ways are within us. Let's learn about the ways of the Kingdom together. My prayer for all of us, once again drawing from Jamie's teaching, is that our citizenship in the Kingdom becomes a deeper and truer reality than anything else in our lives.

Blessings,

Ron