Tuesday: The Kingdom Is the Way
WEEK 29
TUESDAY
THE KINGDOM IS THE WAY
Romans 8:29-30
We come to note another aspect of the kingdom, an aspect seldom noted.
“And [Paul] entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, arguing and pleading about the kingdom of God; but when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way before the congregation, he withdrew” (Acts 19:8-9 RSV). Note “pleading about the kingdom of God; but when some were stubborn and disbelieved, speaking evil of the Way.” Here the kingdom of God and the Way are used interchangeably. But Jesus is called the Way—“I am the way”—yet here the kingdom is the Way. So things equal to the same thing are equal to each other; Jesus and the kingdom are one!
But this shows not only the identity of Jesus and the kingdom but also that the kingdom is the Way written into the nature of things, the way we are made to live. We usually make the Way the way of salvation. It is, but it is more; it is the Way unqualified, the way to do everything—to think, to act, to feel, to be under every conceivable circumstance—for God and humanity, in the individual and the collective. It is the Way. There are just two things in life: the Way and Not-the-Way. The Christian way is always the Way, and the unchristian way is always Not-the-Way. There are no exceptions.
When God made you and me and the universe, God stamped within us the Way—the way we are made to live. We can live against that Way written in us; but if we do, we get hurt. It is our destiny written in us.
The Way of Jesus is the Way of the kingdom, and the Way of the kingdom is our way—the way we are made to live. This passage puts it thus, “God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love” (Eph 1:5). We are destined to belong to the Way; and that destiny is written in our blood, our nerves, our tissues, our very make-up. “The kingdom of God is within you”—it is written in the very constitution of our being. The laws of the kingdom are the laws of our being, stamped within our very selves, therefore inescapable. When you revolt against them, you revolt against yourself.
O God, our Lord, we thank you that we have a destiny, the most glorious destiny that can be conceived; we are destined for your kingdom. It is our Homeland. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I shall fulfill my destiny by making the laws of the kingdom the laws of my life.