Hello, and welcome to another blessing Sunday. Traveling with me on this path are
Abbie Johnson Taylor

and
Lynda Lambert, who shared the idea with me.

This is the 3rd post in my series on the Lord’s prayer. Today I’m discussing the first part of Matthew 9:10 “Thy Kingdom Come”.

Every time I think about it, I think I have more questions than answers, but here’s what I’ve come up w/thus far. Next week it might change.

As far as I can tell, there are 3 ways that God’s kingdom can come:

1. When He comes back, as depicted in the image above;
2. When He calls us home individually; and
3. When others who know God and do His will enter our lives.

I made reference to that last week when I wrote a tribute to Dolly Parton. She was a well-known example, but there are those who exemplify God’s love and care for others every single day.

Sometimes I think perhaps this life is like a proving ground. We’re given things to have dominion over because we’re told, after all, that we will be given things to rule over in Heaven. It’s one thing to be given dominion over a waiting room full of cooperative patients, submissive kids, and loving spouses. Unfortunately, sometimes what we visualize doesn’t exactly come to fruition in our real world.

And yet, somehow, it’s precisely in the midst of the chaos that reveals what God is making of us. Why God would be testing us for a heavenly reign I don’t really know, since there won’t be any unhappiness or chaos in heaven. Sill, with all dominion comes responsibility, and I think that’s what God’s looking for–how we’ll handle the responsibility of ruling with God.

I think we also need to shift our mindsets from ownership to stewardship. That’s not a word often used these days. It’s common to say our home or my car or my money. The truth is that everything we have–children, parents, spouses, siblings, possessions, pets, is on loan from the Father, and that loan can come due at any time. Our rule is temporary because our earthly lives are temporary. Only in heaven will our rule with the Father be permanent. Even there, however, we’re still stewards, because everything there is, was, or ever will be is our Heavenly Father’s. The key is to realize that and share with others what we have, because in doing so, we bring a bit of His kingdom down to earth.

Leviticus 25:23 says:

‘The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me.

Lord, help us realize that you own all things, and that when we do what You would have us do, we bring some of Your Kingdom to Earth. In Jesus’s name, amen.