Today I’m starting my blog with a question. Are you surprised? Asking the right question can be a powerful tool that unlocks a whole new world, a world that God planned in advance for you to help build. Jesus called it building “The Kingdom of God.” Instead of being all over the place with distractions, fractions, preoccupations, and reactions, let’s focus in on just one question. What are you building with your life?
The answer to this question can be found in the depths of your heart. What is your strongest compelling belief and conviction that drives your life? It could be working. It could be money. It could be your family. It could be your passion or hobby. It could be helping people. It could be learning. It could be developing relationships with people. It could be fixing things. It could be hiding and self-protection. It could be fighting, winning, or survival. It could be “more is better” so that you accumulate more stuff, more experiences, and fill your life with no room for margins, people, or God.
While the world seems to be building a kingdom that is void of God, Jesus came and ushered in The Kingdom of God. In God’s Kingdom, all of the beliefs, values, words, and systems are completely different and reversed from the patterns of this world. Like Jesus, when you exist to testify to the truth, what you say and do will be radically different from those around you. What you say “yes” and “no” to will be radically countercultural. Why you go to school or to work or out in the community is purposeful instead of habitual. What you meditate upon and medicate your life with will transform you instead of numb or deplete you. What you put into your day will be driven by God’s Spirit to impact you and those around you for Christ and for His Kingdom. All else will begin to fade away. When building The Kingdom of God becomes your primary focus, people will see Jesus in and through you and by the way that you live your life intentionally for Christ.
Here’s the kicker. If you’re too busy to slow down and to make time for God, your health, your development, and the people around you, you’re too busy to build The Kingdom. If you’re busy building something else, then you’re not building The Kingdom. If you’re spending most of your time alone with God, absorbing everything that you can, and praying with fervency, you may be building The Kingdom, but you might be missing out on daily opportunities to impact and change the lives around you.
Before Jesus left this earth, He commissioned His followers to go make disciples of their people groups. If you’re tired of the life that you’re building and if you’re ready for a change, The Commissioner is waiting for you to enlist in His growing army of Jesus-followers. The qualifications: a willingness to surrender, submit, and see life from God’s perspective. Everything is God’s and belongs to God. If you need some proof, listen to these power words: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to Him” (Psalm 24:1). “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God has made. They can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God” (Romans 1:20).
Here’s the problem with a simple solution. What makes God mad and disrupts Kingdom-building is found in a simple truth. People push away the truth. “For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts” (Romans 1:19). When people exchange the truth for lies, everything goes crazy. If you need a current example, look at our world. Everything is backwards. God and good are bad. Bad is good. When we become Kingdom-builders, God reverses everything back to His design. Instead of negotiating away God’s Truth, we learn it, we apply it, we speak it in love, and we look for ways to loving share God’s Truth.
You might be wondering, “Glenn, why is the “T” on Truth capitalized? Jesus is the Truth. Jesus is unchanging. Knowing, encountering, and being transformed by Jesus will set you free from the patterns of this world that bind and hinder Kingdom-building. Building the Kingdom is all about knowing and sharing Jesus—period. When you embody Jesus’ love, truth, and grace, your life becomes a Kingdom-building tool.
Need some Truth to back up this statement? “Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are free by God’s grace” (Romans 6:13, 14).
While God keeps refining and repurposing this tool (my life), I’m taking this tool to the farmer’s market this morning. I’m heading over to spend some time with my neighbor who just lost his wife. My kids are coming home today, and I can’t wait to spend time with them. God enables this tool to help people find and know Jesus as they’re going through some tough times. I’m heading to Camp Bethany to share Jesus with the next generation. When I get back, I anticipate having more people to disciple as we build God’s Kingdom together—one life at a time. Want to join me in the adventure?
I’m convinced that all-aged kids and campers need more than just a week or a one-time-encounter with Jesus. Way too many people encounter God and His Word and then just move on to something else. Why not develop people and places where Kingdom-building happens year-round? Bible. Games. Sports. Creative arts. Music. Pursuing Jesus, health, and relationship-building. Got time? Instead of being conformists, why not be radical in your pursuit of Christ, His people, and His Kingdom. Why not be crazy-4-Jesus? I am. Why not let the love of Christ permeate all you say and do? It could be contagious!
