What would the perfect neighborhood or city look like? Perhaps it would have mansions lining the streets and parks on every corner. There would be no traffic jams, many beautiful restaurants, and an ideal climate. Everyone would have plenty of money. There would be unlimited health benefits, or better yet, no one would ever get sick.
Now imagine that perfect place with mean people living there. They lie, cheat, and steal. They get angry and are violent. They are always complaining. The perfect neighborhood and city are now far from perfect, not because something is missing in the way of material goods, but because the people living there ruin it.
The Pharisees were searching for their “ideal world.” They called it “God’s kingdom,” and to them, it meant the overthrow of the Roman Empire, Israel becoming a powerful nation, and an increase in their power and authority. When Jesus appeared on the scene, they asked Him when God’s kingdom would come, and Jesus told them, to their chagrin, that God’s kingdom wasn’t something they could see with their eyes or a place that could be identified by sight; rather, He said, “God’s kingdom is within you.” (See Luke 17:20–21.)
Jesus did not come to build a “better world.” Rather, He focused on making people better through spiritual rebirth and transformation. He showed us how much God loves us. He taught us how to love God and others. He brought us into right relationship with God by paying the ultimate price for all the sins we’ve committed and will ever commit. When His disciples went out to further His kingdom, they took on the role of servants, just as Jesus had, and focused on people’s eternal souls, encouraging them, as Paul said, to “be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
In the end, God’s kingdom rules where believers live in harmony with God and others. The kingdom’s inhabitants may live in nice houses or a local slum. They may be single or married, young or old, healthy or sick. Even so, they make up the kingdom, and God dwells with them, filling them with His presence. What’s more, His presence emanates from them into the world every time a member of His kingdom shares a smile or kind word, helps someone in need, and shares the truth of God’s Word and His love with others.
May we enjoy living in and expanding His kingdom every single day.