From the Older Brother’s Room
“Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
For many of us these words are very familiar, perhaps too familiar. You grew up reciting them at church or have heard others pray them as part of the “Lord’s Prayer.” You may even pray these words on a regular basis yourself. But how often do we stop to think what they mean? Do we ever wonder what it would look like if this really happened?
Every four years the world comes together to celebrate the Olympics. Every Olympics we hear stories of inspiration and amazing human achievement. We hear of athletes overcoming tragedies, physical limitations, losses and pain to accomplish remarkable feats that the world watches with absolute wonder. For a couple of weeks, the Olympics make us all feel like children again as we experience the wonder and watch with awe.
During the Olympics another common discussion surrounded the question of who was the “greatest.” Was Michael Phelps performance in Beijing, the “Greatest” Olympic performance ever? Was this years men’s basketball team greater than the “Dream Team” of 1992? Are Misty May and Kerri Walsh the greatest women’s beach volleyball doubles team in history? (Btw, when did we get so into beach volleyball in the Olympics anyway?) Perhaps one of the liveliest conversations about greatness surrounded Usain Bolt. According to Bolt, “I am a legend. I am the greatest athlete to live.”
One of my favorite movies is “Chariots of Fire” which follows the story of two 1924 Olympic athletes, Harold Abrahams of England, and Eric Liddell of Scotland. The film captures the drama of the two storied Olympiads, filled with great races, drama, defeat and triumph. The film also chapters the motivation behind why each of these men ran.
As Harold Abrahams says in movie, “I’ll raise my eyes and look down that corridor, four feet wide, with ten lonely seconds to justify my whole existence…but will I?” Eric Liddell, on the other hand, tells his sister in the film, “Jenny, God has made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure.” Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.
If Usain Bolt had to give an answer for his running, I agree with Kevin DeYoung (senior pastor, University Reformed Church) that it would be something like, “I (Usain Bolt) made me fast and when I run, I feel my pleasure.” Now before you snicker and roll your eyes condescendingly at Usain Bolt, let me submit that you and I have more in common with Bolt than Liddell. See, Bolt is all about seeing his kingdom come and his will be done, not God’s. If you are not a Christian, ultimately, that is the only kingdom you are seeking to build. If you are a Christian, our growth in grace is the process of God dismantling our small kingdom of self and involving us in God’s great and glorious kingdom. You and I are more like Bolt than we want to admit. God invites us to something so much bigger.
See, our kingdom of self makes us think about our job only in terms of what I can get out of it. Be it stuff, success, affirmation or a cocktail of several together. We approach our marriages in terms of what we get from it. With our children, we love them, as long as they are promoting our kingdom. For example, when you have a nice relaxing evening in mind and your children are being particularly disruptive, you and I are far more apt to get angry. Or when a customer, or your boss, calls and berates you on the phone for a mistake with an important account. If their harsh words have merit, you feel frustrated or disappointed in yourself for “dropping the ball.” If their words have no merit, you might feel indignant at the accusation. Anger at being questioned or challenged. It is only as we see our homes as kingdom outposts which God intends to use to bring about His Kingdom and His will, that we are able to see things differently. No longer do we see the interruption of our children as simply a nuisance, but as God working His kingdom more deeply in us as well as an opportunity for His kingdom to transform our children. For His kingdom to come and His will to be done means that you and I must become more like Christ.
How would your life be different if you really prayed and longed for “His kingdom to come and His will to be done” in your life? In your marriage? In your parenting? In our Valley? As one author has written, “God calls us to abandon our little kingdom of one and then welcomes us into his big kingdom of glory and grace.” It is a kingdom so much bigger, so much richer than what we often seek or accept. It is rooted in the finished work of Christ for those who have turned, by grace, to Him. May he grant us the grace to seek His kingdom and the humility to have the gospel of Christ put to death our kingdom of self. Because as my father taught me years ago, records are made to be broken…even Usain Bolt’s.
– Ed Dunnington
