Kingdom Birth/Kingdom Reality
by Sandy McCormick
Today, I am sitting on top of a hill looking out over a large valley. The physical world is alive all around me. A white calf only a few days old is waking from a nap in the afternoon sun, birds flit from tree to tree, armies of ants aerate the soil under my chair, and to remind me I’m in Texas an armadillo is scavaging its way along a fence line. But more than all of these, what I am most aware of is the wind. It is cool and a bit damp, it is fresh and pure and clean, and as it whips past my ears it is loud - forcing me to focus on its reality.
I now see numerous large birds soaring high above me and hear the Father say that the physical and the non-physical worlds are much more than 2 realities to be discovered. They are intended to function together - to integrate, cooperate, compliment. These birds were created to soar on thermals that eyes were never meant to see. And, most importantly, these birds are doing nothing less than what they were created to do!
In John 3 Jesus has been going from place to place talking about the availability of a new “kingdom”, demonstrating what it looks like to live in and from that kingdom, and simply inviting people to participate with him in kingdom-living. After hearing this a few times, one of Israel’s best teachers, a respected man named Nicodemus, came to Jesus saying…I know you are from God, but I don’t understand what you are talking about.
In reply, Jesus tells him that he must be “born again” (born from above). Nicodemus, like most of us, is more confused. Jesus explains that it is our physical body that is born into the physical world. But he also explains that we are more than physical beings. We are spiritual beings too. And, like our physical world, there is also a spiritual world - the kingdom of God. We must be born into this spiritual world just like we are born into the physical world.
In giving a simple example, Jesus says: don’t over complicate the reality of the non-physical world. Think of the wind. Do you doubt its existence? Do you allow it to confound the intellect? No, you accept its reality because though you can not see it, you can see its affects. Leaves and limbs sway, a cool breeze blows your hair, waves roll onto the beach. Can you explain where wind comes from? No, but that doesn’t negate its reality.
“Lord, I believe in the presence of your Kingdom among us. I accept the reality of the non-physical/spiritual world that is just as real as the wind causing small tears to pool in the corners of my eyes as the breeze gains momentum. Lord, I choose to live in and from this Kingdom and to make every effort to integrate both realities into every aspect of my life. Like these birds above, I want my life - increasingly filled with goodness - to be nothing less than what you intended.”
“Yet, like Nicodemus, I ask with nauseous repetition, “Lord, how can this be?” So please help me live more from my heart and less from my head. Help my confidence in you to grow and diminish my need to rationalize you and your ways. I have learned the hard way that leaning on my own understanding is a dangerous exercise. Trusting you is far better. Help me spread my wings and be lifted by the winds of your Spirit into all that is real.”
Used by permission from the SomaHouston blog, http://www.somahouston.com/.
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