Chosing King or Kingdom
Mark 1:14-15 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus begins His ministry with a triumphant declaration that the "Kingdom of God" is present and tangible. His listeners would have had a clear image of what the "Kingdom of God" should look like, unfortunately, that image was dead wrong. To many people at the time of Jesus, the Kingdom of God was thought to be a political entity inwhich God would use a conquering Messiah to make Israel a global superpower and throw off the shackles of Roman oppression. They misunderstood the nature of the revolution by limiting the vision to military, economic, and political might, as opposed to a fundamental transformation of humanity. My thought today, is that we can be sincere in our anticipation of what God is doing, but also be ...