The Kingdom

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21).

I look forward to the day when the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay – when clean things won’t get dirty, when order won’t become disorder, when beauty won’t fade, when what is alive will never die, when what is whole will never break, when what is happy will never be sad, and when beginnings will never end.

Hints of that day are here - “already but not yet.” I see Him at work all the time, cleansing the dirt, ordering the chaos, renewing the beauty, resurrecting the dead, mending the broken, giving joy to the sorrowful, and writing new beginnings. This is the Kingdom, the one we are only beginning to glimpse, the mystery of redemption and sanctification. It is not won through worldly prosperity, but through the weak, the low, and the despised. Outwardly, the battles seem small, the failures overwhelming, the victories insignificant. But He is changing us, His children, and turning our faces towards Him as our beautiful Light and glory.

What a mystery, that I can exist in the mundane minutiae of everyday life, with such invisible and miraculous realities residing in my heart. If only I may grasp onto the powerful gospel with every fiber of my being, for it is not fragile or small. It is the reality which explodes over every other truth in my existence.