Trading my Kingdom for His!

By Richard Lineberry

“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves." Colossians 1:13

The call to be a disciple of Christ involves a trade-in. My stuff for His. A kingdom has “ways.” It has a culture, policies and rules that reflect the will of its king. As a subject of King Jesus, we learn to see life as He sees it and live it as He did.

The kingdom of darkness, from which we all defected as Christians, ignores the King. It is preoccupied with things of this world and promotes selfishness. It is full of shakings that are the consequences of rebellion against the true king and His effort to get our attention. When we are born again, we are then introduced to the clash of the two kingdoms.

Under the government of King Jesus, He gradually moves towards the throne of our hearts. Getting saved is the getting started part, but the experiencing of it in all facets of our lives is a lifetime operation. God trades us our old views about God for the right views. Our hearts begin to go after His desires for us rather than our own (His are better, by the way). During these changes, we often ask, “Why things can’t stay the way they were?” The answer, of course, is that we are now under new management. The only thing here to stay is CHANGE.

An old story tells of two preachers visiting about the fall of man. One asked, “When man fell into sin in the garden, just how far did they really fall from God?” His friend responded, “Well, just ask God to make you the way He intended you to be and you’ll find out.”

True repentance brings about a revolution starting deep within with our decision to follow Jesus and travels to our outside world that will change everything about us. If we let His Kingdom grow, it will affect everything we touch. That’s how God sets things in divine order. Painful for us along the way, but that’s how the Prince of Peace brings peace. If something new is going to happen, something old has to go. But when it does, we discover we’ve traded in our rags for His riches.

My prayer for us today is that we keep our eyes on the throne. Jesus is making a better future for us because the future is His. Look to Him who makes all good things possible. He heals what no one else can, breaks down the evil powers of this world and will not stop until He, alone, is pleased. That’s the Good News!