Good Thursday to you!
Read Luke 17
Today in our reading we find some sayings of Jesus, a story of healing and gratitude, and teachings on the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Two things I want to highlight. The first is something that has popped up twice in the past two days in other meetings and emails, and shows up here in the story of the man healed from leprosy, who returns to praise God for this miracle. And the theme that keeps rising up this week is one of gratitude.
As we get closer to Christmas, and honestly as we continue in what has been one of the toughest years many of us have faced, I wonder what are we thankful for? How might gratitude for the things God has done and is doing in your life impact how you respond to this year? How do you show gratitude for the gift of the incarnation, of God becoming flesh, in order to save us? How are you modeling thankfulness to those around you?
The second focus from today’s passage comes from verses 20-21, “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’”
As we watch and wait for Christmas, for the return of Jesus, for God’s kingdom among us what are the unobservable things that might mark God’s kingdom in your life? Love? Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Goodness? Faithfulness? Gentleness? Self-control?
We recently watched The Polar Express with Natelie and Zoey, and there’s a line in that movie that gets at this point. The conductor says, “Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.” Or as the author of Hebrews says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11.1).
The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed, do you have the eyes of faith to believe in what you don’t see?
Grace and Peace,
Matt