Realizing God’s kingdom on earth
When we love something, we want to share it, enjoy it with others, and see them benefit from it. When we love our faith, it’s natural to want to share that, too, and for the same reason.
In fact, the Bible’s book of Acts illustrates that sharing the gospel, the good news Jesus came to deliver, is a central aspect of being Christian. And while history tells us that sometimes groups acting in the name of Christianity have sought to grasp the levers of power and rule over others, the acts of the apostles were not geared toward gaining political leverage. Even when the politics of the day seemed to trample those trying to live and share the good news of Christ, the motivation of the early disciples didn’t change. They retained their heartfelt desire for others to so know God’s nature as to experience the liberty of life lived in conformity with Christ—the spiritual idea of God, revealing what is timelessly true.
Jesus himself is the model for the way to spread this truth. He relied solely on the “levers” of spiritual power: prayer, love, healing, humility, and, as he pointedly said, rendering “to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mark 12:17). His life and the changed lives of those he healed showed us that we see evidence of God’s kingdom on earth by understanding the all-spiritual creation that God, Spirit, forever sees. This proves that God’s kingdom is what is truly present, even where earthly discords seem to be. We increasingly experience this heavenly kingdom as we follow Jesus’ example of living Love by demonstrating the reality of God as both Love and the Life of all. Still today, we can obey the guidance Jesus gave his followers when he sent them out to share the good news. The message was brief, infinitely sweet, and entirely spiritual: “As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 10:7).
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