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When do we start living the kingdom life? Does it happen upon our death, or does it begin once we give our lives to Jesus?
If you said the latter, you'd be correct. The problem is that we look at the world and don't see anything like what Jesus promises when he teaches us to pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6.10).
War, poverty, hate, violence and so much polarity... that's not the kingdom Jesus declares. So what does it take to live the kingdom life that's promised now?
Surely, it takes our faith in God, but it also takes work -- flexing our spiritual gifts that God has given us and using them to transformation the world.
In Matthew 11:30, Jesus says: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." A yoke signifies teaming up to pull a heavy load, but when yoked to Jesus, the load is easy. Make no mistake: We don't just go along for the ride; work must be done.
I've seen work done in both the secular and non-secular world -- and in both, I've seen successes, but I've also seen failures. We might conclude that if folks were yoked to Christ in either camp, the work would result in success; that's not always the case.
When Jesus began his ministry, he wasn't well received everywhere he went. He was even run out of his own hometown. We also know his ministry ended at the cross. If we believe being yoked to Christ means instant success, that's not really what he promised. What Christ promises is that the work would be easy as we would be expanding the kingdom.
But just as Jesus's work on the cross didn't contract the kingdom but expanded it, so to will our sacrifices widen the kingdom. And remember, our eternal lives don't begin upon our earthly deaths; they begin when we give our lives to Christ, to be made new in him.
Think of the kingdom, then, as a place void of all light, and then one person lights a candle, and the entire place is transformed. There are still dark corners, but as one person passes that light to the next, the light exponentially grows, and the place is exponentially transformed. Christ is that light, and the kingdom we are promised results when we share Christ's light with the world.
John 17.3 says: "...this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
To see the kingdom now is to know Jesus. To see the kingdom expand is to work to share the good news that our new lives in Christ are eternal.
So, when does the kingdom life begin for you? If you know Jesus, it already has. The question is: How will you expand it?
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Christopher Kostyn Passante is the lead pastor at Mount Nittany Church in State College. Contact him at cpassante@susumc.org.