The Kingdom of Heaven is Not Like this…
Recent weeks have brought much reason for sadness. Shootings in Orlando, the scandals at Stanford & Baylor, more high profile shootings of black people by police officers in Louisiana & Minnesota followed by shootings of police officers here in Dallas, another lead pastor being removed from his role, and the list goes on & on & on…
Much has been said & I’ll express my honest confusion of what to say in the middle of such chaos, such brokenness, such pain & hurt. But in a time where our faith family here at Riverside has been thinking about & talking about what the Kingdom of Heaven is Like, I feel confident is saying the Kingdom of Heaven is not like this.
This is a place…
Where things often go wrong.
Where people often get hurt.
Where unexplainable evil occurs.
Where Satan does his best to divide, propagate lies, & destroy lives.
Where we have to try to explain unthinkable actions to our children.
Where we often have more questions than answers.
Where there seems to be more darkness than light.
But, as Isaiah the prophet once said, there is reason for hope. There is reason for faith.
This is a season where we weep with those who weep. Grieve with those who grieve. Gather with our neighbors & join together regardless of race, religion, language or whatever possible divider you may use to define a person or group of people. It’s a season to lean hard into our faith in Jesus, into remembering that if we believe what we say we believe, it literally changes everything.
Because the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s not like this.
We long, even more so in this moment, for Jesus to come quickly. For His rule & His reign to come fully & finally. While we do our best to participate in making things on Earth as they are in Heaven in the here & now, we feel the urgency for Jesus to come again & make all things right, all things new.
So come Lord Jesus. We wait for you. We hope in you.
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