There’s something about a mountain that gets your attention.
I lived in Seattle for about three years after graduating from college. It was a different world for this Texas girl. There was rain, for one thing. And trees. And tulips in the spring. I could drive down to a beach near my apartment, sit on the beach, and see mountains across Puget Sound.
One of the things I never got used to was seeing Mount Rainer looming over the freeway. On clear days it felt like you could reach out and touch it. I’d forget sometimes it was there. I’d be sitting there, stuck in traffic, drumming on the steering wheel and look up—boom. It was right there in front of me: a majestic mountain, reminding me that there was a world outside the boundaries of concrete and steel.
Kingdom living is like that. We go about our days of work and sleep, then suddenly God breaks in and reminds us that there is another world. We live in a kingdom that is both now and not yet; ushered in at the coming of Christ yet not fully consummated till he returns in glory. We live as citizens of that other kingdom. We pitch our tents here as travelers, but our home is in that other world and we long for it to be manifested among us.
Till Christ comes, we live as signposts pointing the way to the coming kingdom. We are not only passive recipients but agents seeking to establish kingdom outposts here where we live: in our homes, our workplaces, our communities. We seek justice. We bring freedom. We release healing and wholeness, joy and celebration, love and peace. With words and actions we show people what God is like, what it means to be his child.
We point them to the mountain.
This week, be an ambassador of the kingdom. You are a child of the king. You represent him to a darkened world. Speak truth. Call forth justice. Show love. Bring wholeness and healing. Find those trapped in darkness and remind them that we live for another world.
What does it mean to you to be an ambassador of the kingdom? How do you live that out?