One young friend, a bright young university student, just asked me an honest and searching question: “What kind of things constitute seeking the Kingdom?” I’m no authority with these types of questions. I still feel like a kingdom rookie searching the field for some seasoned player who can show me the ropes. But I love the process, and so I asked the Holy Spirit for insight to respond.
I think it all begins with loving God and loving others (Luke 10:27). But even before a journey can begin it needs a firm starting place, and the only place solid enough to begin the kingdom journey is a deep revelation of the profound and unwavering love God has for me. Until my eyes are opened and my heart is bathed in the reality of God’s staggering love and affection towards me I’ll never be able to truly love others as I ought. Sadly, many of us are clueless about God’s affection and we spend our lives trying to get into a room we’re already in rather than striking out on the adventure. (If we really understood the love of God it would show up clearly in our attitudes towards liberals, gays, church visitors, homeless people and minorities!)
So we begin by drinking deeply of the love of God. You’ll need to stop squirming. Stop tracking your performance. Stop trying to earn God’s love (there’s no need), or to prove how much you deserve God’s love, (you don’t), and just accept the fact that Father God is crazy with love for you beyond all reason or understanding. There’s absolutely nothing you can do including “seeking the Kingdom,” that will make him love you any more or any less than he already does. The truth is, God COULDN’T love you any more, and he REFUSES to love you any less than he does at this moment. When a person’s soul is baptized in the love of the King his born-again eyes will be opened for the first time to the splendor of the kingdom.
And from there it will be quite natural to burn with love for God and others. You’ll discover an inner motivation to pray for the kingdom, (Matt. 6:10); to preach the kingdom, (Luke 10:9; and to enlarge the kingdom through acts of mercy, helping the poor, feeding the hungry, visiting the sick, and bringing justice and light into the darkness around us. (Matt. 25:31-40).
But we must never lose sight of the fact that the LOVE of God is forever the engine of all activity. God’s kingdom is never advanced by drudgery nor the compulsion of dry religious obligation. The kingdom comes with delight. When we realize the love of the King we will gladly give ourselves to the enlargement of his kingdom.
PS: I’m in Constanza, Romania with a class of twelve students from Moldova, Azerbaijan, Canada, Romania and the US. We’re having some amazing moments together. Next week I’ll be in a youth camp in the middle of the country with no internet access. (It’s in a tiny village with one dirt road, horse-carts, and cows who come wandering home to their respective yards at dusk). Thanks as always for your prayers and support.
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 
Hi! I’m sorry Don that my blog is not in englesh. I just watched the movie “Secondhand Lions”, and right now I’m writing about the Kingdom and God’s glory, and I wos thinking ok you, my favorite teacher. I want to sheare more about how can we see God’s glory.
God bless you, a men of the Kingdom!
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So well written, my friend. I wish I was with you at the camp. Man, last year’s was a special time for me.
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Thanks for introducing your “glorious” passion in Kona, 5-10-10… It resonates with my DNA… We must have the same Father… Hallelujah!
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hello Don of the Kingdom!
Gosh, your words are resonating all around the universe right now. Talking about this past week with Bill this morning while eating our illustrious oatmeal and boiled eggs. Thank God for chickens, coconut flakes for flavor, and farmers growing those oats…
I wonder what our chances are of touching base today. I’m wanting to go downtown to pick up some necessities today but also thought about grabbing a burger too. So, if you are up to it, give me a ring at 502-468-5686 or just text me… Bill may also be interested in going as well.
Again, thanks for the awesome week, your faithfulness in buying the best field with treasure in the Kingdom… (@:
Dennison
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Shalom and Aloha and Bula from Fiji.
I’m grateful to have been impacted by your enthusiasm in the classroom this past April, 09 about Kingdom of God and being an essential member of His Family. Thanks.
I’m now in Fiji on outreach and rereading your notes; I’ve been asked to share with one of the YWAM dts groups here about worldview and Kingdom view… Nothing like being in a position to prepare my mind for the questions in the classroom; and hence, review your material as I share with these hungry dts students (I want to give credit to whom credit is due). Can’t wait to interact and dialogue with these sharp young men and women about the Kingdom of God shaping our worldviews.
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Since Mt 6:33 is my “life verse” (at least up to this point), the question of “how do you go about seeking the kingdom” is very important to me. Even before getting to that, question, though, a more fundamental question may be, “Are we talking about seeking to ENTER the Kingdom, PARTAKE of the Kingdom, MANIFEST the Kingdom, EXPAND/EXTEND the Kingdom, or something else?” I think there is contextual support for all of the above, and then answers to “how do we go about seeking” can be broken down into subanswers to those different aspects of seeking.
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Ha! That’s a good point, Zach. Perhaps you tend more towards complexity and details, while I tend towards reductionism and trying to keep these posts to 600 words or less. 🙂 (Both, of course, are useful). You’re clearly correct that deeper gold could be extracted. But my intention was to establish the essence and glue of the Kingdom as love for God and others. And then, with loving relationships in place, the details would take care of themselves.
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