The State of the Kingdom
theophilus November 15th, 2007
Wow, I got depressed reading the Cincinnati Enquirer website today.
These are the headlines . . .
“Food Pantries Face Hard Times”
“Verdict Reached in Beheading Case”
“Slaying, Then Credit Card Spree”
“Lure a Kid, Go to Prison”
“Deputy Convicted of Sex Offense”
“Crooks Rob Oakley BP Station”
“UDF Robbed in Norwood”
“Man Shot at Martin’s Bar”
“Two Slain in Home Invasion”
“Gunman Robs Liquor Store”
“Double Slaying a Mystery”
“17 Nabbed in Drug Sweep”
“Barry Bonds Indicted”
“Ricky Williams to Rejoin Dolphins”
These headlines are especially poignant in light of today’s Gospel (Luke 17: 20-25) in which Christ proclaims that “the Kingdom of God is among you.”
I do believe that the Kingdom of God is among us. And I believe the gloomy news in today’s Enquirer is the exception and not the rule (Cincinnati is a rather nice place to live).
But, we must still ask ourselves – what is the state of God’s Kingdom here on earth? We have the State of the Union address and the State of the State (and Cincinnati even has the State of the City) – so what is the State of the Kingdom of God?
Today’s headlines do not paint a pretty picture. Senseless violence, outright theft, total disregard for human life, violation of the innocence of children, and shameless abuse of our bodies and the bodies of others for pleasure, pride and material gain.
But that’s not the whole story when we are thinking about the State of the Kingdom. How did we do today? Were we a good father, husband, worker, member of our community? Did we do the right things today? Did we live according to way Christ has set out for us?
If we did, then we went a long way in building God’s kingdom here on earth – today. Unless we are involved in newsworthy events, we cannot control the bad things we read about on the news. But we can control what we do and how we react.
For every bad thing we read about, we must commit to doing two good things to counteract it. We must commit to doing our part to build the Kingdom of God on earth regardless (or in spite of) how so many others seem to want to screw it up.
No excuses. We just need to focus on what we can do – not what other’s are failing to do. God’s Kingdom is worth the effort.
