WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
08th Mar 2023
We have just enjoyed spending a few days in Cornwall with our family. It is the county of my birth and where I spent the first half of my life. It’s easy to feel Cornish when I am back in the Duchy, I can even find myself speaking with a Cornish accent! We now live in Somerset and having just moved house, and will be there for the foreseeable future.
Some folk ask me whether I would like to live back in Cornwall, and my reply is “No”. It is not because I have anything against Cornwall, but when I think of where I live, I don’t really think about geography. When Jesus was asked where the Kingdom of God would come, He said, “The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
So wherever I am situated geographically, I seek to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. As I look at things around me with all their problems and limitations, my prayer is, “Let your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
We recently attended Nancy Goudie’s 70th Birthday celebration which was inspiring, and also met some amazing people at the meal that followed. Everyone we met was very humble and it was hard to get them to tell of their lives. For some we had to get on the internet to discover their achievements. But in each situation we discovered people who have brought the Kingdom to earth. We met an amazing man who has been instrumental in reducing knife crime in London, and was honoured by the Queen with an MBE because of the outstanding work he has done.
We were given some books, and I have just finished reading Nancy’s autobiography and found myself incredibly moved by the work Ray and Nancy Goudie and New Generation Ministries have accomplished over the past 40 years. In the Heartbeat days they led our youth ministry at the Faith Camps with incredible results.
So we seek to live in the Kingdom of God, and bring the power and values of that Kingdom into every area of life. Our key scripture is, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all theses things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
by Charles Sibthorpe
