Living in the Kingdom

John 8:29 And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 30 As he was saying these things, many believed in him.


31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I have been in John 7 & 8 for the last week or so. There is a whole bunch of solid stuff here.

Something really caught my attention the other day here in this particular passage. Verses 32 & 36 are great, quotable verses, aren't they? We love them! And they ARE true and wonderful. But to understand 32 & 36 more fully, or maybe even just in a different way, it is good to go back to verse 29 and read through it all.

What caught my attention and made me pause is verse 31. I'm sure I've read this whole passage many many times before and missed verse 31. Jesus - after "gaining" more disciples - turns his attention to them and the ensuing conversation turns a bunch of those disciples (maybe all of them) away from him.

The point of contention here, I think, is their IDENTITY.

This might be a timely topic considering the much-discussed health care bill that just passed. Maybe not. I'm just thinking out loud here (actually, not out loud, but whatever).

See, Jesus is talking to the people who believe in Him when He says, "If you abide in my word, you're my disciples." He's talking to his followers. And they don't like what he says because they 1. didn't pay attention to the 'abide in my word' part and 2. cared more about their identity as children of Abraham than their identity as followers of Jesus.


As I said, I've been reading / re-reading this particular portion of John since before the health care bill passed and this caught my eye. I thought to myself, "I want to abide in Jesus' word and know His truth more than anything else. My identity as ________ (ANYTHING) is nothing at all if I'm not found abiding in Jesus and His word!"

Now, today, this seems even more important. So, what I'm about to say may come across wrong, but I'm going to risk it anyhow.




I don't want my identity as an American living in a good democracy to be more important to me than abiding in Jesus.



PLEEEEAAASE don't get me wrong on these few things: 1. I am opposed to the U.S. (or any other) government running too much of my life. 2. I do NOT think that debating / speaking out for(or)against any issue is necessary wrong or un-Christian. 3. I love living in America and would reeeeeally prefer our government to remain a "good" democracy!



Having said those things though, I really want my life to reflect the beliefs I hold most important - namely that I am a child LIVING in a KINGDOM. The Kingdom of God. That's it. That's most important.

The Kingdom of God is not a democracy, it's a monarchy. There is only one King and He reigns over the ENTIRE world and all the governments in it. Right now - today - Jesus is my KING and Obama is my president. In the future, Jesus will be my King and I will have another president. In the past, Jesus has been my King and other men have been my president. Are you catching the common factor in this?

JESUS IS MY KING!!!


I want to abide in Jesus. I want to be a disciple of Jesus who abides in His word and knows the truth that sets me free from my sin. I want to care more about my identity as a child of God more than any other identities I may have.



I am probably leaving this post too early. I probably have more to say, but I think I ought to be done for now.

That is all.