Travelling Through This World

In John 18:36-37 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
 
The Jewish people thought Jesus should fight the Romans, to come to power by force. They didn’t understand the kingdom Jesus spoke about was bigger than the here and now. This kingdom Jesus spoke of was a spiritual and eternal kingdom.
 
A kingdom with good and evil, with angels and demons, with a triune God and a devil, Satan. It is an epic kingdom to span all of world history.
 
Jesus wasn’t interested in being King of Jerusalem. He wanted to be King of the whole universe and by his sacrifice on the cross He did just that. It is finished!
 
I wanted to have “My kingdom is not of this world” tattooed across my back. Then I realised how much tattoos hurt and I wussed out.
 
I love this whole concept that we are citizens of heaven. Here for a time, passing through. We shouldn’t make our home in this world thinking this is all there is because there is so much more!
 
So let’s not get caught up in houses, or cars or jobs or holidays or even family. There is a spiritual reality.
 
Lecrae sings in Identity, “I’m not the shoes I wear. I’m not the clothes I buy. I'm not the shoes I wear. I'm not the clothes I buy. I'm not the house I live in. I'm not the car I drive, no. I'm not the job I work. You can't define my worth by nothing on God's green earth. My identity is found in Christ, is found in Christ”
 
There is another kingdom! It is the kingdom of God.
 
My favourite quote is by Jim Elliot and says this “We are not fools who give up what we cannot keep to gain what we cannot lose.”
 
We cannot take the cars, the houses, the jobs to heaven. So let’s not get caught up in acquiring stuff. Instead let’s store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.

- Erica Noonan- ​