Seeing The Kingdom

When it comes to Bible interpretation, our understanding often becomes very limited and narrow.  Time after time, we apply a word of God to a very defined space or concept, missing its broader and more important application.

For instance, in John 3:3 we read, "Jesus replied, 'Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.'”  The application normally used is that of salvation, becoming "Born Again Christians."  Some apply it to what happens in baptism others the moment when Christ is accepted in faith.  And, certainly, being born again applies to that moment of salvation, but there is more, much more.

Being born again, not only allows us to see the kingdom of God in the sense we will experience heaven, it means going through a transformation that allows us to see the kingdom as it is revealed here and now on earth.  Do you recall "The Lord's Prayer?"  "Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10).   Seeing the kingdom is not all "over there."

Seeing the kingdom also means looking at things differently now through a new kingdom lens.  It allows us to see that loving our enemies is a better strategy than hating them.  Kingdom lenes reveal that giving is better than receiving.  Kingdom eyes look for the best in others and in circumstances instead of the worst.  

When we are born again, we beome "new creatures" (2 Cor 5:17) with a new attitude and a new focus, leading to new actions.  Everything changes as we begin to see the kingdom unfold around us.  When we look at people as children of God, not necessarily well-behaved children but children nonetheless, we begin to treat them differenttly.  When we regard our possessions as belonging to the kingdom, we begin to use them differently in order to please the king rather than just look out for self.

Everything changes - not over night and not without the conditioning of the Spirit that comes from spending time with Him, listening in prayer, Bible study and meditation.  Quiet time with the Lord is indespenible in bringing focus to kingdom lenses, which are given at the new birth.  Don't rely on the eyes of a babe in Christ, work to develop those eyes to a mature citizen of the kingdom so you can see it and therefore experience it fully.  Jus' Sayn.