Finishing the race well.
My grandfather liked to tell his family, "We're going on a trip this weekend!" They'd ask him, "Ok, where?" He'd say, "I haven't decided, but start packing!"
It's difficult to pack for a trip when you don't know the destination! Warm clothes or a swimsuit? From what I understand, these family trips were always a fun adventure. But when you don't know the destination, confusion is inevitable.
**Mission requires a clear vision.**
Every night our family prays, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." But what is God's kingdom? What is the result of pursuing God's mission? What will it look like?
The theologian Paula Fuller offers this vision of God's kingdom in the book, *The Kingdom Life*:
"The kingdom of God is the reality of God's transforming presence, power, and goodness manifested in the community of Jesus' disciples (see Matthew 5:13-16). This community witnesses to the reality of the presence of the kingdom throughout this age (see Ephesians 2:1-21). Spiritual formation is not the end itself but is always pursued through and focused on the advancement of Christ's kingdom. We are God's chosen strategy for the world. The Spirit-energized community of Jesus' disciples is God's agency of reconciliation in this world as it calls all people to be reconciled to each other across divisions of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality as they are reconciled to God (see Matthew 5:24; 9:35-38; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). Witness comes both through the declaration of the gospel message and through the example of living out the gospel message as a family of faith characterized by humility, purity, accountability, discipline, reconciliation, restoration, and forgiveness (see Matthew 18:1-22). The task is profoundly beyond us, but God's invitation is to take what He gives and return it to Him in simple obedience."
I love her definition of the kingdom of God. Theory is important! We need the vision. But what's critical is congruence: that our lives are living examples of the destination.
**Mission requires that God's vision becomes our vision.**
Consider 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10. The church of the Thessalonians became an example to all the believers, and the word of the Lord went out from them. Why? Because their lives and their community was transformed by God. As Paul writes, "our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance" (1:5).
So let me ask you: how would you define the kingdom of God? Jesus is King: what does his kingdom look like?
We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers. We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance. You know how we lived among you for your benefit, and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit. As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don't need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
How would you define the kingdom of God in your own words?
Is God's vision for his kingdom becoming your vision? In what ways?
What would it look like for your life and community to be a 'living example' of God's kingdom?
Write your own definition of the kingdom of God. What does it look like? Feel like? What characterizes it?
Choose one aspect of God's kingdom (reconciliation, forgiveness, humility, etc.) and intentionally live it out this week.
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