Living in the Spirit

November 7, 2020

Scripture Reading: Matthew 25:1-13
‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

The Kingdom of God is active and engaged, amazing but at the same time practical.  The story above reminds me of the story of Joseph, sold into slavery by his brother’s, he ends up an official in Egypt and saves that nation from starvation by storing grain in good years in preparation for a drought. Saved his family, too as they migrated from their homeland to Egypt in search of food. Citizens of the Kingdom of God are called continually to live in covenant with God and all of God’s creation. God created an interdependent world including a wide diversity of people, all of which must work together to operate productively.

God loved us enough to let us choose to love God. God loved us enough to create each of us with vast reservoirs of choice to fulfill our contribution to the success of God’s Kingdom. We need to plumb deeply into ourselves with the Spirit’s guidance and discover the things that brings us great joy. Living into those things will result in our best contributions to the building of God’s Kingdom. Jesus said in his final discourse with his disciples,  Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will do the work that I do and in fact, will do great works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:12-13. Please note, he did not say it would be easy. Developing God’s Kingdom requires a lot of hard work, love, and connectedness with God including a strong commitment to God’s righteousness.

Our greatest challenge is avoiding the distractions of the world. The principalities and powers* are working overtime to divide and conquer Kingdom builders. People of faith have an intense, heartfelt responsibility as we move forward out of division, pandemic, climate change, and natural disasters. With God’s help, we can do this.

Jesus said, In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!**

Prayer: Lord, guard us from the distractions of the world as we work to build God’s Kingdom. Amen.

*Ephesians 6:12
**John 16:33b

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.