HIDDEN ASSETS
13th Jul 2016
Jesus talking to Pilate said, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my Kingdom is from, another place.” (John 18:36)
Christianity has always been counter cultural. We live in this world and seek to obey the rules of the land, but “our King” is reigning in heaven, and His word overrules our thinking and behaviour. Jesus should have the final word in the lives of His disciples, and we are called to demonstrate this heavenly Kingdom on earth.
Demonstrate the “peace of God” in your daily lives. It’s a great gift given to all believers by our Saviour, and it is more valuable than most of us realise. It is also a witness to the person of Jesus, under whose rule we are living.
Years ago we were entertaining some Japanese ladies, and during breakfast I received a phone call outlining a very difficult situation regarding a foreign au-pair who had been impounded at Heathrow Airport. My Japanese friends heard the conversation and also my prayer, over the phone, for peace and wisdom. One of these Japanese ladies, a non-Christian, asked, “How do you have peace in such a crisis, and where does it come from?” My reply was, that peace is found in the person of Jesus.
Given those circumstances, I could easily have been worried and fearful, but I chose to trust Jesus, the peace giver. Later that weekend she asked for prayer, having been influenced especially by the presence of an invisible Kingdom, she wanted to be part of it.
In a card for her father’s birthday, my granddaughter wrote, “Thank you for being Mr. Happy, even when the rest of us can be grumpy!”
Demonstrate the Kingdom - in your speech, your actions, your faith, your love for others, and expect that questions will be asked, and you will be able to talk about Jesus, the One who is reigning in your heart.
Paul puts it this way, “Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.” (Philippians 2:14-16 in The Message)
by Joyce Sibthorpe
