Last night's sheet (that I did not create - some wonderful people at church did) had some wonderful scriptural references to what Jesus said the Kingdom is like, among them:
*A mustard seed
*A treasure hidden in a field
*A merchant looking for fine pearls
and
*Yeast that a woman took and mixed into about 60 lbs. of flour
My table talked about how at times it feels that the Kingdom is hidden, and we cannot find it. I understand why this was said. Sometimes it does seem impossible to understand or even find amidst all the heart-ache and earthly suffering.
For my own part, however, I am choosing to think of the Kingdom as not necessarily hidden, but certainly as something that we don't recognize as great with our human eyes. What we can see of it may seem almost insignificant. The Kingdom originated in heaven, after all, and is not of this world. God gave us the earthly examples to make it easier for us to grasp. The mustard seed, the treasure hidden in a field, fine pearls culled from among millions that a merchant may search long and hard to find, yeast that a woman mixed into 60 lbs. of flower, or may I say, a tiny little baby born in a stable instead of a huge glittering castle destined to inherit the throne?... Tiny, seemingly inconsequential things that add up to something greater than we can fully imagine.
From this:
to
.
From one of these little squares:
to
--- Okay, so maybe this one was the first image I got from the little bit of yeast yielding a great 'rising' from the bread :) being the 'I Love Lucy' fanatic that I am. Was too shy to say so at the time though.
I guess MY prayer, in light of these thoughts, is, "Father, help us to recognize through Your eyes the Kingdom seeds You would have us grow. And give us the courage, despite our own inadequacies, to understand, to follow You and to lead others in to Your fruitful Kingdom."
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Later on in the evening we spoke about destroying the acts of Satan and the power by which we now live. Galatians 5:19-26 and 2 Corinthians 12:9 {"My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness... So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me..."} were referenced for this. (if the first weren't so long, I'd post it here too)
My thoughts on this were: "The Kingdom is so opposite from this world that even we, citizens of the Kingdom, can have trouble recognizing it. How much more foreign must it seem to the world? Its like an entirely different language. So, let us not be too afraid to express the insight God gives us into His Kingdom. It isn't really our power, but His power at work within us. But we are responsible for tapping into it and making it known, so that we can bring others in."
* * *
