Affection for the Kingdom of God
Affection
for the Kingdom of God
In Weird Al's parody of the song American Pie, he sings,
“My, my, this here, Anakin guy,
maybe Vader someday later,
but for now, a small fry.
He left his home
and kissed his mommy goodbye,
saying, ‘Soon I’m gonna be a Jedi’”
Sadly, {spoiler alert} he would never see his mother again, and without the help of a good therapist to develop proper coping mechanisms, he ruins his relationships while feeding an obsessive drive to rule the galaxy with fear and the dark side of the force.
International transient people leave homes, friends, and family for many reasons, but Jesus gives us the prime motivation for his followers to leave anything and anyone.
“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
No one will become a Jedi because they left everything. Jesus gives us all something greater to leave for: the kingdom of God. The rich ruler was missing this in his motivations for righteous living (Luke 18:18-25), and Peter was missing it as well (Luke 18:26).
It is about this time in the year when many families are preparing to leave. They are getting ready to leave their home to come to Rome, or they will leave Rome to return "home" or head to their next country assignment. No matter what, there are places and people that have become so dear. If this is you, may God give you an affection for the kingdom of God, that it would be your aim, your desire, your heart's joy. This will not decrease your affection for those you leave but will orient your affections toward what is greater. In this, you will find a good and proper longing for a place and people that will be mingled with the hope of the greater joy of God's kingdom.
For the Kingdom of God,
Loren