The Message
When we think of kingdoms, we think of something tremendously hierarchical. My in-laws got me The Lord of the Rings for Christmas, which I've been re-reading. It's been 20 years since I've read them, and they're fantastic as ever. Tolkien captures evil so well -- there is a definite source, and yet the way it creeps across the land and invades every corner of the world is so accurate. Evil corrodes relationships and transforms people and places, and yet there are people who boldly go forward, sent on a mission, and do not cower in the face of evil, providing courage to all those who falter... it's a great story.
Anyway, I digress... Tolkien captures hierarchy so well. There are kings who reign and have titles and swords that date back centuries and it's always clear who is in charge and who isn't.
The Kingdom of God isn't like that, because it's rooted in the Trinity, which is a concept that is so hard for me to grasp. God exists in three persons, and is yet one, and it's based on mutual love and service where each member of the Trinity exists to serve the others and finds delight and joy in it. This is the Kingdom of God, in which there is no evil, for everything is based on selfless love and joyous service. The Kingdom of God isn't about striving for power and honor for the self, but instead it's about serving another and being fulfilled in the opportunity to do so.
It's hard to wrap our minds around -- even when we do selfless things, we often find a way to seek glory for the self. But Christianity is a continual pouring out of the self for the glory of another, and in so doing, we find that we, ourselves, are being filled by God. It's a continual cycle, and rather than fear that there is not enough glory to go around, there is delight at the wild abundance that God offers us.
There is perfect joy in selfless service -- this is the reality of the Trinity, and it's to what God invites us all. I don't know that we can drop our concepts of kingdom and structure and power in this world, but we can marvel at what God promises -- even if we cannot wrap our minds around it, we can give thanks that we worship a God who is perfectly rooted in perfect love, and has been and will be for all of time.
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