teacher devotion - part 1

I said I wanted to share a devotion I gave for teacher´s yesterday, so here is the first half. I hope you enjoy!

So I´ve been thinking more about the Kingdom of God, I think it´s something that is good for everyone to think about from time to time. I wanted to start by sharing and reflecting on a couple parables…

Matthew 13:33
¨He told them still another parable: `The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.´¨

Mark 4:26-29
¨He also said, `This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain-first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.´¨

These both talk about ¨The Kingdom of God,¨ what do you think Jesus is trying to teach these people?

What I would like to focus on is that this Kingdom Jesus is speaking about is growing, advancing, and present here, now. Lots of times we all get caught up in our busy schedules, exams, grades, parent meetings, friends, money, stuff to do… and we miss this Kingdom, God´s presence, that is all around us.

We can go to church on Sunday, we can do Bible study once a week, we can pray before 3 meals a day – but in the rest of our lives we get consumed by our world, and it is a busy, messy one.
But that isn´t what Jesus said. Look at these two parables we started with… they are about God´s Kingdom and it is growing now, all around us, whether we notice it or not. Listen to these 2 more thoughts that Jesus gave His followers about the Kingdom:

Matthew 4:17 (remember this is His 1st message to a crowd of people in Matthew)
From that time on Jesus began to preach, ¨Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is near.¨

Luke 17:20 and 21
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ¨The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation (the Spanish translation here says `cannot be submitted to calculations´), nor will people say, `Here is is´ or `There it is,´ because the kingdom of God is within you.¨

What does this tell us about Jesus´ perception of the Kingdom of God?

I´d like to focus on His thoughts to repent, change, think different - don´t worry about calculations or theories and right and wrong… NOTICE AND LIVE IN GOD´S KINGDOM, HERE AND NOW.

I wanted to share an example. I see the Kingdom of God in this moment because here we are, a great group of colleagues, sitting around after a long week of work, sharing good time, thinking about God, in English and in Spanish.

I mean, I know we all went to go home, it´s Friday! And they just paid us… we´re going out to eat! But if we take a deep breath and 30 minutes to enjoy the company of other people sharing God´s journey? It´s actually pretty cool to think about, we all play different roles in school, but we have a lot of the same goals. We have a lot of the same struggles, we have a lot of the same beliefs.

I mean, what an opportunity to share time with a great group of people. To hear the perspectives of others, to share our own, and to journey together.

That´s the Kingdom of God… isn´t it amazing that He has brought us from all over to share this little bit of the journey, here and now? We can see God´s love for us here and in so many other places if we just open our eyes and look.

Can anyone else share thoughts about seeing God´s Kingdom and presence around us?
For sure there is also a lot of brokenness around us. In school, in our neighborhood, probably in our apartments, maybe in our families that we are far away from, in some friends´ lives – the world is full of brokenness.

But in the middle of this mess, the busyness, the brokenness, we can open our eyes to God´s Kingdom too. It is working and growing all around us, like the yeast or the growing tree.