The Kingdom of God

Yet in their pride men assert their will and claim ownership of the earth. Well, for a time it is true, this is man’s world. God is admitted only by man’s sufferance. He is treated as visiting royalty in a democratic country. Everyone takes His name upon his lips and (especially at certain seasons) He is feted and celebrated and hymned. But behind all this flattery men hold firmly to their right of self-determination. As long as man is allowed to play host he will honor God with his attention, but always He must remain a guest and never seek to be Lord. Man will have it understood that this is his world; he will make its laws and decide how it shall be run. God is permitted to decide nothing. Man bows to Him and as he bows, manages with difficulty to conceal the crown upon his own head.

When we enter the Kingdom of God, however, we are in another kind of world. It is altogether other than the old world from which we came; always it is different from and mostly it is contrary to the old. Where the two appear to be alike it is only in appearance, for the first is of the earth earthy, the second is from heaven. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The first will perish; the last abides forever.

Verse

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. John 3:6

Thought

Man will have it understood that this is his world; he will make its laws and decide how it shall be run. God is permitted to decide nothing.

Prayer

Father, we long to born of Your Spirit, to live forever in Your presence.