What is the kingdom of the world but a place I reside in? This kingdom I live in, does not make a shred of sense! I feed into its logic, and add to its overall design by the choices I make. I use of its resources, offered to me at regretful prices of the dollar, emotional stakes, and horrifying choices. I am threatened by the abuse of its power for the gain of more control and dominance. I find myself tight-fisted by the imbalance of those who have and those who have nothing. The leadership is ineffective to actually be compassionate, and empathetic to the torn and struggling. It senses no one else’s need but their own. The world has become a playground for the bullies who want to control the merry-go-round of wealth and privilege. Yet, the kingdom of the world is millions of people whose very day to day existence is based on the struggle to survive on what they have and do not have. How am I contributing to this struggle for them? Am I making it worse? If I live in this kingdom, and choose to blind myself by the opportunities of self-sufficiency and self-gratification, what damage is truly done to my conscience, to my soul, to my eyes? If I see those who on the periphery are dying and lost and do nothing, I am a thief, a murderer, and a pawn – contracted by the kingdom to consume as a bystander who walks away from obligation and morality. If I am part of the problem as I am being led to contribute to it, I can also be part of the solution to redefine what it means to live in a kingdom: a kingdom ruled by the abuse of power, the lure of money, and the attraction of conflict. Because as far as I am concerned, this kingdom plays on the bartering of fear, hoping that each of us will haggle for a piece of it to keep for ourselves so that we worship it. We bow down to its power over us. We are killed by fear. Who would do this? Who would perpetuate fear among its subjects?
Perhaps I am a part of a larger movement of those who refuse to be misled by fear in the kingdom of the world. What is the opposite of fear, but hope? Hope is what people need. Hope can deliver a person from death to life. That is the movement that needs to reclaim a kingdom of peace. Because living in a kingdom that delivers death, lies, struggle, control, and fear is not the kingdom that provides life. It is not able to prove any worth for anyone. It feeds on its own shame and it gets bigger when someone believes that is a better way to exist. Hope deflates fear. Hope fills people with potential to make a difference for the next person. Hope is what the kingdom of the world cannot deliver based on its own terms. Hope is what the people of the world are capable of if they choose it. People can invite the kingdom of the world to remain the dominant kingdom, or they can choose to invite another kingdom that gives life. If suffering remains, what good are we choosing for the world? Take this kingdom of the world, and do something with it. Hope will flip the kingdom inside out, and open it up to all people who want life, who need life, who see life around them. The potential to live a new life is alive around us when we give to others. When one person sees into the soul of another, they give them a hand…that is hope. If I am to fight the kingdom of the world, there can be no complacency. I must choose to invite a different way of life to exist around me. I must change the scope of how large I see, just how focused I can become, and how generous I am capable of becoming. I must become free from the bondage of the lies, the deceit, and the control of the kingdom that wants to blind me with distractions. I must release those chains from my hands and feet, and walk somewhere else. I walk into a vision where a different kingdom rises. It gives hope, value, purpose, dignity, and freedom. That is the kingdom of heaven. The invitation is sent.
I want to walk to its edge to answer what I can do. I want it to give me sight to see. To see the way of compassion and understanding to the world abused by the kingdom I left. To see thousands alongside me. They too are bruised and battered by the kingdom of the world. I want to look ahead with everyone and be surrounded by the reality of love, forgiveness, and empathy. I want to live in a kingdom that shows me the best possible life I could have. I want to live in a kingdom where it all makes sense.
Perhaps I am a part of a larger movement of those who refuse to be misled by fear in the kingdom of the world. What is the opposite of fear, but hope? Hope is what people need. Hope can deliver a person from death to life. That is the movement that needs to reclaim a kingdom of peace. Because living in a kingdom that delivers death, lies, struggle, control, and fear is not the kingdom that provides life. It is not able to prove any worth for anyone. It feeds on its own shame and it gets bigger when someone believes that is a better way to exist. Hope deflates fear. Hope fills people with potential to make a difference for the next person. Hope is what the kingdom of the world cannot deliver based on its own terms. Hope is what the people of the world are capable of if they choose it. People can invite the kingdom of the world to remain the dominant kingdom, or they can choose to invite another kingdom that gives life. If suffering remains, what good are we choosing for the world? Take this kingdom of the world, and do something with it. Hope will flip the kingdom inside out, and open it up to all people who want life, who need life, who see life around them. The potential to live a new life is alive around us when we give to others. When one person sees into the soul of another, they give them a hand…that is hope. If I am to fight the kingdom of the world, there can be no complacency. I must choose to invite a different way of life to exist around me. I must change the scope of how large I see, just how focused I can become, and how generous I am capable of becoming. I must become free from the bondage of the lies, the deceit, and the control of the kingdom that wants to blind me with distractions. I must release those chains from my hands and feet, and walk somewhere else. I walk into a vision where a different kingdom rises. It gives hope, value, purpose, dignity, and freedom. That is the kingdom of heaven. The invitation is sent.
I want to walk to its edge to answer what I can do. I want it to give me sight to see. To see the way of compassion and understanding to the world abused by the kingdom I left. To see thousands alongside me. They too are bruised and battered by the kingdom of the world. I want to look ahead with everyone and be surrounded by the reality of love, forgiveness, and empathy. I want to live in a kingdom that shows me the best possible life I could have. I want to live in a kingdom where it all makes sense.
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