Today Daily Devotional

“People [won’t] say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

— Luke 17:21

Here’s an old Bob Dylan lyric: “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.” When I hear that, I first picture a foolish young man. He’s sure he knows what’s what. Then I picture a wise older man. Like a child, he embraces the mystery of what he doesn’t understand. Is that maybe how it is with the kingdom of God?

People were bringing little kids—even babies—to Jesus. Parents wanted Jesus to bless their little ones. But the disciples knew better: Jesus was busy with important stuff, grown-up stuff. There was no time to waste on little kids.

Well, Jesus set them straight, didn’t he? “Cut it out!” he said. “Let the kids come right here to me. Don’t you know that the kingdom of God is their kingdom? That God is their God?”

The kingdom of God is kids’ stuff. And if we grown-ups don’t add a bunch of big words and picky rules, then kids will see the kingdom for what it is. And they will welcome it the way they welcome a carnival or a snow day. When something so unexpected and so wonderful comes along, of course they’ll want to be a part of it!

If we grown-ups don’t feel the same way about the kingdom of God, we’ve most likely missed the point.

Come on, Jesus. Bring your kingdom. We want to ride all day for free! Amen.

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror. . . .

— 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)

If you were a kid like I was in the 1960s, you might remember Sergeant Joe Friday from the TV show Dragnet. Friday was a no-nonsense police officer. When he questioned a witness, he didn’t want to hear stories or opinions. “Just the facts,” he would insist. And by the end of each episode, with the facts in hand, Friday would make an arrest.

A focus on facts may be right for a police investigation. But things are different with the kingdom of God. When Jesus talks about the kingdom, he doesn’t rattle off a set of facts. And he never offers a definition. Because the truth of the kingdom is more than we could ever take in.

Instead Jesus gives us glimpses of the kingdom through stories and pictures. He says the kingdom of God is “like a mustard seed.” Or like many other things. Yet what Jesus says about the kingdom isn’t necessarily obvious, even to the disciples.

The same is true about what Jesus does. Just after the mustard seed story in Mark 4, we see Jesus calming a dangerous storm out on a lake. That certainly said something about Jesus as King. But it wasn’t altogether clear. The disciples were left asking, “Who is this?” (Mark 4:41).

Let’s listen to some more of Jesus’ stories and watch some of his deeds to learn what we can about the kingdom and its King.

Teach me, Lord Jesus. I want to know who you are and what your kingdom is about. How else can I serve you? Amen.

There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language.

— Revelation 7:9

In the United States today we commemorate the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK). As we should. King dreamed about the kingdom of God—where the children of former slaves and the children of former slaveowners would see each other as family, and where everyone would share equally in freedom and justice. King also did what he could to make that kingdom dream real, even at the cost of his own life.

I grew up in the world King was trying to change. And when I was about five years old, I got to live into some of that change. A new family moved in across from us. Right away, my brother, Tom, and I met Cheryl and Larry. They were black, and we were white. And in no time at all we were friends.

When I was five, I had never heard of the kingdom of God. But I had seen a glimpse of it. Because in the kingdom, we all will be children of God together. I can hardly wait. How about you?

Meanwhile, I keep wondering: What can I do, and what can the church do, to make the kingdom real? Do you think maybe we have to become more like children?

King Jesus, you urge us not just to welcome little children but to become like little children. How else will we see the kingdom? How else will we make the kingdom real? So help us. Amen.

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”

— Mark 10:43

The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem didn’t want Jesus as their king. They brought him to the Roman governor, Pilate, and he played that up for what it was worth. Though he could not find a reason to charge Jesus, Pilate went along with the people and sentenced him to death anyway. As a final taunt, Pilate placed a sign on the cross: jesus of nazareth: the king of the jews.

Pilate sparred with Jesus about it too: “You’re the king of the Jews, right?” Jesus refused the bait: “You think a king has sword-wielding soldiers at his command. But my kingdom isn’t like that.”

You wouldn’t know it from looking at the church, though. The church long ago made peace with the kingdoms of this world. The church even sent its children to war in the name of the kingdoms of this world. But Jesus said his kingdom is “not from this world.” (That’s a better translation than “not of this world.”) The way of his kingdom is not borrowed from Rome or any other kingdom.

The way of Jesus’ kingdom is mercy, not brutality; joy, not misery; reconciliation, not enmity. The way of his kingdom doesn’t destroy a village in order to save it. Instead the King himself endures destruction in order to save the world.

The kingdom of God is not like the kingdoms of this world. God’s kingdom is not from this world but from the world to come.

Forgive your church, Lord Jesus. We forsake the way of your kingdom too easily and in too many ways. Have mercy on us, we pray. Amen.

“So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

— Acts 11:18

An old hymn reminds us that “God moves in a mysterious way.” Sometimes that’s more than God’s people can handle. Acts 11 shows how the brand-new church in Jerusalem was unsure what to do when Gentiles came to faith in Jesus. They were surprised and wondered what God was up to.

In a parable in Mark 4, Jesus says the kingdom of God is like seed scattered on soil. The seed sprouts and grows, taking on a life of its own. Eventually there is a harvest. Nowadays we can explain all the processes that produce a harvest. But 2,000 years ago those processes were a mystery, something beyond explanation and yet wonderful.

Similarly, the kingdom of God is wonderful and often beyond explaining. Like planted seed, the kingdom has a life of its own. The kingdom is outside our control. It grows and bears fruit however God pleases, without our intervention. It’s not that God doesn’t use us in the processes of the kingdom. But the kingdom is full of surprises—as surprising as Gentiles joining with Jews into one church.

Have you seen God move in mysterious ways? Has God given you or your church unexpected opportunities to offer hospitality, to practice generosity, even to tear down boundaries that would keep people out? How wonderful is that?!

Lord Jesus, you are the greatest kingdom mystery of all. You became human so that we can become more human than we have ever been. That’s beyond us! Amen.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

— John 1:5

Here’s the gospel (the “good news”): Jesus delivers the people of God from the dominion of darkness and brings them into the kingdom of light. There is no better news!

Here’s the background: Sin had plunged God’s people into darkness. They had no temple, no king, and no homeland. The problem was their own repeated sin of turning away from God and pursuing the sinful excesses of neighboring kingdoms. So God sent other nations, that were bent on conquest, to uproot his people and take them into exile. In a long era of gloom, Israel’s hope grew dim. But when the time was right, God sent his Son to bring Israel out of darkness and into light. And not just Israel—because Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). On the cross he broke the back of darkness, because forgiveness of sins leads back to the light. Beyond our “little” sins, Jesus has secured forgiveness for our love of darkness. This frees us from the clutches of darkness and brings us into the light of the kingdom of God. We still live in a dark world. The drumbeat of tragedies and atrocities never stops. But we have the privilege and the duty to reflect the light of God’s kingdom into the world. We do it by keeping the law of Christ: loving and serving both God and neighbor with joy.

Lord Jesus, whenever it’s dark, wherever it’s dark, and however it’s dark, I want to shine. Jesus, help me to shine! Amen.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.”

— Luke 6:20

The Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” We see it in Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, where the love of money has closed off Scrooge’s heart. And hasn’t money shattered countless families throughout history?!

Apparently the dangers of money increase as we get more of it. Because few of us can resist the seductions of wealth. We fall into a money trap. All we want is more. No wonder Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24).

When we hear that, we may think Jesus is talking about salvation and warning that wealth gets in the way. Because, if nothing else, having a pile of money can make us feel immune from everything, even from the justice of God. But I think Jesus may have something more immediate in mind: living the way of God’s kingdom here and now.

Wealth can put the squeeze on us and keep us from living the way of God’s kingdom. And, proportionally, people who have less tend to be more generous than people who have more. No wonder Jesus says to people who are poor, “Yours is the kingdom of God.” Their generosity already fits.

Lord, “give me neither poverty nor riches” (Proverbs 30:8). Help me to trust your generosity enough to be generous like you. Amen.

The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.

— Mark 15:26

Suppose you went to Jerusalem, looking for God, in the time of the kings of Israel. The locals would tell you, “You’ve come to the right place.” And they would point to Solomon’s temple, saying, “That’s where God is.” Because at the heart of the temple, behind a thick curtain and between golden cherubs, God was enthroned as King. By the time of Jesus, however, history has taken its toll. Solomon’s temple is long gone. A new temple has taken its place. Well, suppose you came to Jerusalem in those days, on a certain Friday afternoon, looking for God. Where would the locals point?

The news that afternoon was stunning. The temple curtain was torn. And there was nothing behind it: no golden cherubs, no ark of the covenant, and certainly not God. Some of the locals might take you outside the city walls to a rugged hill called Golgotha. And they might point toward a dead figure on a cross and say, “There. That’s where God is.” Because the sign above the corpse is right. This is the king of the jews. The Roman commander is right too. This is the Son of God.

What sort of kingdom can it be when the king is a dead guy on a cross, and when that dead guy is the Son of God? A kingdom like no other. That’s for sure.

Jesus, you are a king like no other whose kingdom is like no other. Help your church to be a people like no other—in all the best ways. Amen.

Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

— Matthew 27:38

It’s important to note that our use of the words king and kingdom can be misleading when we talk about God and Jesus. These words that are so familiar to us may get us in the ballpark of understanding—but just barely. That’s because Jesus is not like other kings, and the kingdom of God is not like other kingdoms.

The mother of James and John finds this out when she asks Jesus for a favor. She’s proud of her boys. So she asks Jesus to give them the top spots in his kingdom, to make them his right-hand and left-hand men. But Jesus says no; those places are already reserved. We gain a hint of what that means when we learn later that two rebels are crucified on either side of Jesus. So cross and kingdom are connected.

Other kings would take up a sword and lead an army against the enemies of their people. But Jesus is not like other kings. He deals with great enemies by letting himself be defeated by them on the cross. Then that cross becomes the sign of the kingdom of God, which is not like other kingdoms. Because in the kingdom of God “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

So whenever you see one of those roadside displays of three crosses, remember that Jesus and his kingdom are not like anything else in this world.

Jesus, I’m usually ashamed when I’m weak. So I try to act strong. Help me to trust that your power is made perfect in weakness, even in my weakness. Amen.

“Suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple.”

— Malachi 3:1

When Jesus is 40 days old, his parents bring him to the temple to present the required offering after a son is born. It’s a big day. Here’s why.

When the Israelites, under Moses, set up a tabernacle (a portable temple) in the wilderness, a cloud of glory signaled the presence of God. God was there in the midst of his people. Later, when they built a temple, under Solomon, the cloud of glory filled it to overflowing. God was enthroned in the temple as Israel’s true King.

Many years later, the prophet Ezekiel saw God’s throne leave the temple—and the cloud of glory with it (Ezekiel 10). Soon the temple itself lay in ruins, destroyed by Babylon. Later the people of Israel returned from exile and built another temple. But this time there was no cloud of glory, no sign that God had come to live in the new temple.

Many more years later, Mary and Joseph came to the temple carrying Jesus. And the Lord, Israel’s true King, was in the midst of his people once again. What kind of king will he be? And what kind of kingdom will he bring?

We are faced with those questions to this day. How will we welcome King Jesus and his kingdom? With humility? With joy? With thanksgiving? With hope? With holy obedience? The answer is in our lives and in the life of the church.

Jesus, you came to live among us for a while. And you will come again. We want to welcome you wherever you appear. And wherever you are, your kingdom is. Amen.