The Kingdom tension.

Here’s another of my important faith “skeleton” entries – again, not in any particular order other than the things I notice.

If love is my spine, then my skull would have to be the Kingdom of God. This is incredibly important in my skeleton, as it was the central message of Jesus and it is to be the message of our lives as the Church.

In Mark 1:15 is a summary of Jesus’ preaching: “Time’s up, the Kingdom of God is at hand – repent, and see it!”. Why was the Kingdom of God at hand? Because Jesus had inaugurated the Kingdom by becoming flesh and showing up. Like the climactic ending of a play, the King was now in town, and where the King goes, the Kingdom is established.

What is the Kingdom today? Well, we live in a tension (which in itself is another key skeleton element for me, I will write on that soon) between the Kingdom on earth that Jesus established, and the full completion of the Kingdom with the climatic event of the new heaven and new earth: completion of the original perfection and restoration of the brokeness. For now, we are like soldiers fighting for the Allies in the Battle of Bastogne in World War II – D-day has been, but VE day is still coming, and we are stuck in the middle fighting this gruelling battle against the same sin and enemy that broke God’s perfection in Genesis.

We are stuck in the middle of this battle, but we fight for the side which has ultimately made the winning moves in the war.

This entire framework makes some of the things that plague our faith with questions and doubt, OK:

• Why do some people not get healed when we pray, and others do? Because the battle is still on.
• Why are some people so resistant to God, and some so open? Because the battle is still on.
• Why can I be so full of faith one minute, and so empty the next? Because the battle is still on.
• Why is there such poverty in the world, and some Christians want more money to prosper? Because the battle is still on.

As I said, this is my skull – and it’s my skull because it keeps my theology and direction in perspective. Knowing I live in the tension of the Kingdom being here, but not fully yet, keeps me faith-sane.

Maybe you needed to remember that today too. I bet you did: because you are, after all, in the middle of a battle for the territory you are on, right now.

Any thoughts to add?