The Gift of the Kingdom

It's just under 6 weeks to Christmas, or according to days-until-christmas.co.uk exactly 38 days 6 hours and 37 minutes (as I write this blog) to the day we celebrate God's greatest gift to us.  If already you can feel fear and panic rising up in you at the prospect of all the parties, services, shopping, wrapping, mince-pie gatherings and relative visiting you normally have to successfully navigate before reaching the 25th December, then read on...

Just take a few moments to imagine that you're just five years old.  How does it feel to know that Christmas is coming?

I wonder whether the anticipation of something like Christmas through the eyes of a child could be a profound way in which we as grown ups can understand how God gives us his kingdom: it's intended as a gift!

Jesus tells us in Luke 12 that the Father is pleased to give us the kingdom.  The father is pleased to give us the realm of possibilities where the reality of heaven becomes a reality in the here and now: in us, through us, and around us.

Jesus is talking about being free to live in the gift of each day.  Being free to live in the moment that God gives us each day as we wake up.  Being free to be available to receive the Kingdom without being distracted or compromised by our own fears or worries about what the future might hold, or put it another way: what we might need to do today in order to secure a safer tomorrow...

Jesus demonstrated a life that was free to be both fully focused on his future purpose and yet fully available in the present of what the Father was doing.

Later on in Luke 18 Jesus said that unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child, we will never be able to enter it.  Unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child looks to, anticipates and enjoys the gift of Christmas it's quite possible we will miss the moment, the joy, and the ease in which the kingdom is offered and received.

The kingdom is a possibility that always within our reach.  Yes there's a future kingdom that awaits us and we eagerly await it.  But the real question is: how available are we to live in the present moment of receiving the kingdom that the Father wants to give us today?  Or are we too distracted by the affairs of tomorrow to enjoy living in today?

So enjoy getting ready for Christmas.  Learn to enjoy the parties, enjoy the mince pies, enjoy the nights getting darker and the music in the shopping centres.  Learn to live in the here and now and ask yourself: where is God's rule and reign wanting to come close to me, and how can I receive it today?

Outworking this in missional communities...

• Are you as a community so focused about the future possibilities that you might be missing out on enjoying being together with God in the here and now?
• Are you living in response to fear or worry about the future which is limiting your ability to recieve what God is wanting to give you today?
• What does celebrating and embracing the preparation for receiving God's gift to us in Christmas look like with my community?

If you've got any comments, suggestions or examples of learning to be fully present and receiving the kingdom in each day please post below...