We love the idea of transformation.
Beauty and the Beast. Star Wars. The Kite Runner. Les Miserables. Schindler's List. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Transformation is a fairy tale we hush children to sleep with, the hope nations cling to; the addicted, broken and despondent long for it, and the successful chase it.
Yet meaningful transformation is as elusive as the wind, always slipping through our fingers. Our world bears the wounds of a battle long fought, the infection seeping through her wounds. We are a dying people on a dying planet.
Children hunger for food, while others gorge themselves with excess. Millions drink water teeming with bacteria and disease, while billions turn a tap and complain that the taste does not suit them. Students complain of long hours and homework while billions are forced into labour to support their families, never learning to read and write. Some trumpet the end of modern slavery, while another girl is sold into a life of sex by parents who will no longer recognize her again. Billions turn their eyes while atrocities are committed every day.
But the story is not finished yet.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” - Revelation 21:1-5aOur hearts long for the day when they will be free; when the world rejoices with us, free of the burden of sin upon us all. We live in a place of tension, knowing what is to come, but not there yet.
However, as followers of Jesus, we are Kingdom builders. In the here and the now, the King breaks through into our reality, bringing about glimpses of the present reality.
Salt. Light. Seed. Yeast.
Things that make the world around them come alive in new and powerful ways.
God has given each and every one of us the ability to build the Kingdom... right where we are. How are you building the Kingdom? How are you bringing about transformation in this fallen world?
