…the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21
When Jesus said this, He was helping people understand something: For God to take charge of the whole world is no big deal. For Him to cause every demon to be placed under arrest, for Him to banish every evil man, for Him to make wars and every human tragedy to stop is all a piece of cake for Him.
God could bring His kingdom that way—and, of course, one day He will. But, meanwhile, He starts in a much more challenging arena—inside our hearts.
Inside us, Jesus quietly goes from door to door and knocks. We have the idea that there is only one big door on our hearts and we open it on the day of our salvation. But that simply isn’t true. There are many doors in our hearts, and when Jesus knocks we choose to yield or to resist or to ignore. So God, rather than violate our choices, navigates around all our misperceptions, our false beliefs, our nutty conclusions and our darkness to get at the door another way, to knock a little louder, or to quietly call for us to open up to Him.
And as the kingdom of God is established inside us—this is where the real miracle takes place. This is why the saints have found courage and peace and joy in the most horrible circumstances, because the kingdom of God is there, and God’s kingdom cannot be shaken.
Dwight
PS. This Saturday, 6/15/2019, in Inner Wealth, we’ll be discussing: Are we good or evil? and Are we constantly sinning?
