Your kingdom come, your will be done. (Matthew 6:10)
If you’re a Christian, today will be the tale of two kingdoms. Your whole Christian life is the tale of two kingdoms. Which is why today you will not experience heaven because heaven is where there is only one kingdom. Wherever there is more than one kingdom there will be war. Which explains the state of our world. There are about seven billion little kingdoms each with its own will. A clash of those wills is unavoidable as the history of our planet proves beyond any doubt. So be prepared to wage war today. Like Jesus did. Today you will be tempted to believe in your kingdom. You will naturally be inclined to promote your will. This is normal and natural. And wrong. The most valuable Being in the Universe is God. His will trumps yours. His kingdom matters more than yours. Seek first His kingdom. Fight against your will. Remember that the King of His Kingdom gave His life to ransom you from the kingdom of darkness and bring you into His Kingdom. So today there will be the casualties of war. There will be injuries to your pride as you lay down your claim to the throne. Wounds to your ego as you ‘let it go’ and resign yourself to His kingdom. Temptations that you will have to do battle with. And feelings that you will have to do violence to. Jesus resigns Himself to one kingdom only. Jesus prays and teaches us to pray that this one kingdom and one will be done. Intellectually we can understand all this – after all, if not God’s kingdom and if not God’s will, then who’s, mine? Yours? His? Hers? – but the real struggle in our hearts and minds is to believe that this is good news. Our kingdoms appear so plausible and so attractive. Our kingdoms promise such reward and the almost irresistible lure of ‘instant gratification’. But it is a kingdom that lies. It can never deliver on its promises. It has never ever been true to its word. It is a kingdom of mirages, smoke and mirrors. It isn’t real. It’s citizens are always disappointed and in the end, it will collapse and die. There is no hall of mirrors called heaven where we can delight in and adore ourselves. God’s kingdom is real. God’s will is good. Every citizen of His kingdom is destined for unimaginable reward and endless joy. Our eyes will be pried from ourselves and fixed on the Only One worth staring at for eternity for our endless delight. Heaven is heaven because His will gets done. Pray that you will worship Him today which means to will one thing. Pray for your church, an outpost of the future when there will only be One Kingdom made up of a body of people who are learning to resign themselves to the One will. Pray that His will be done as it already is in heaven.