Kingdom Living
5 min read
19 “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
20 I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
21 No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.”Numbers 23:19-21
God will never revoke His covenant promises to His people in Christ Jesus. The covenant promises of God are more certain and secure than the foundations of the earth. So then why is it that we see and experience so much trouble in this world and in our lives?
It is because people have a choice to live in a world corrupted by sin and destined for destruction or to live in the kingdom where the joyful shout of King Jesus guides our souls.
Brothers and sisters in Christ may be touched by the corruption of sin in this world, but we are not bound to that world or to that corruption. We are citizens of the kingdom of Christ, and we are the objects of God’s blessing, not the objects of God’s wrath.
Brothers and sisters in Christ may stumble into the corruption of the world, but the Holy Spirit sends a beacon light to remind us that we do not belong there. And the beacon leads us back into the gateway of the kingdom. Jesus Christ is the Gateway. And all we need to do is to call on His name and return.
The world, corrupted by sin, cannot stand the fact that we belong to the kingdom and not the world. The world cannot stand the fact that we can return so easily into the kingdom when we repent. The world wants us to live in the condemnation, the shame, the guilt, the curse of sin together with them. Misery loves company.
But there is no vocabulary for condemnation, guilt, and shame in the kingdom of God for those who are in Christ Jesus -
because through Jesus Christ the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
— Romans 8:2
Even as kingdom citizens, though, we live in a sea of sin and corruption, which is the world. In that sea, it can be difficult to see the beacon of light shining from the Holy Spirit, which is the Word of Life. And so, each and every day, I need to make every effort to conform my heart, mind, soul, and strength to the reality of these truths.
Father, Your ways are high above our ways—Your thoughts than our thoughts. Your love, mercy, and grace make no sense in this corrupt world, yet by Your love, mercy, and grace, I am saved. Help me to live in the freedom of Your love, mercy, and grace that You may be glorified in me and through me. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
