When God sends you a little glimpse of what His kingdom is like and you realize it for what it is, that verse takes on new meaning. Its not just some rote prayer anymore. I've been getting so many glimpses like that lately--moments in life that seem simply perfect.
Minutes on Saturday were like that as I sat around a bonfire on the beach, the moon shining on the ocean, friends smiling and laughing, Grandpa Jim strumming on his guitar, sand in my toes, no worries. For just a moment, everything seemed perfect and beautiful. Everything.
Do you ever have moments like that? They last for just a few minutes--little glimpses of God's kingdom "on earth as it is in Heaven"--where your eyes really look on what is "good and noble and pure and true"... where you don't have any worries or cares weighing you down... where nothing hurts and you're perfectly safe... where you know Jesus loves you just because you're you, even that He smiles about you and likes you... where you feel like you really can love everyone with a Corinthians* kind of perfect love, without any selfishness or envy or other sin mixed in there... where all of those things and more exist in a moment. That's God giving us a glimpse of His Kingdom while we're still here on earth.
Imagine! Someday, it's going to be like that forever and ever and ever! We're going to live in perfection and it's never going to stop. I can't wait! I can only imagine.
Lord, Thank you so much for giving us glimpses of your Kingdom. Help us not to take moments like that for granted, but to live in expectation of them and, even more, to live in expectation of that glorious day when that life will never end. Help us, also, to strive to love everyone in our lives with your kind of perfect love. In Jesus wonderful name, Amen.
*A Corinthians kind of perfect love is one that is always patient and kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and never fails. It's God's love for us, and a love we can at least strive for.
(from 1Cor13:4-8)
