Welcoming the Kingdom

‘Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and illness among the people.’ Matthew 4.23

We would all agree that Jesus could do anything – after all, the Bible does say that he is the Son of God.  But would he do it?

When that sort of attitude goes through our minds, it is an indication that we are setting our sights too low.  We are looking at the individual problems in our life and wondering whether God would ever want to tackle them.  Then another thought often follows – that maybe this particular issue is good for us, excellent for character building!  Pretty soon we have talked ourselves out of the probability of God acting in our lives at all.

This verse gives the work of Jesus a new perspective – it is all about the kingdom of God; Jesus re-establishing the rule and will of God upon this broken world.  In 1 John 3.8, the Bible states that Jesus came ‘to destroy the devil’s work.’ Is it possible that we have started to assume that some things are from God, when actually Jesus came to take them away?  Of course God can, and will, use any circumstances to reveal his love and glory, but is he having to do this because we are not willing or too frightened to ask him to take away the things that have been sown into our lives that give him no pleasure at all?

Read one of the healing stories in the Gospels and ask yourself this question: “If Jesus came to take things away from those people, what does he want to take away from my life?”

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