Who’s Kingdom are you building?

What is the meaning of life, what is our purpose of being?  Seems the age old question, it has gone on for years.  People have pondered it, lectured on it, written books about it.  Cults have risen from the question, arguments have ensued, and relationships have been destroyed. Time, money and energy have wasted on this subject for centuries, and will continue because of the arrogance of man. The answer is really very simple; it is not hidden, nor is it a mystery.  It is right there in Matthew 6, the Lords Prayer…He spells it all out….

We are to bring the Kingdom of God to earth, today, right now, where we live, amongst those who are desperate and hungry for something more.

All over the earth, America, Asia, Europe, Africa…everyone is searching for the meaning of the daily survival of living.  It does not matter if they are poor or wealthy, sick or healthily, young or old. The question and the hunger are the same.  It is a hunger that comes from the soul; it is a hunger that cannot be satisfied by wealth or power.

The very essence of the “American dream” is to map your own dream for a better life.  There is nothing wrong with wanting more for our families, and our children, NO, that is scriptural….the sin comes in when the focus is monetary and material success that actually consumes our lives and removes us from the intimate relationships we once treasured.  That is how a once successful pastor with a loving wife and several children hops on a plane to Thailand to sleep with a child prostitute…we wonder how a model husband and father becomes a predator; we are shocked, disillusioned, appalled and disgusted. How could that be? I personally do not think there is a great mystery here, or need for psychoanalyzing.  There was a shift….Somewhere in his journey that once well meaning pastor shifted from Kingdom principles to self principles.  He lost the vision of his purpose for being and turned to the lust of the flesh to fill the void in the center of his soul.   There will never be enough houses, cars, fame or success to fill the place in our souls that was designed to be filled with the kingdom of God.  It is a square peg in a round hole.  Living for yourself is the opposite of the Kingdom of God.  It is why our celebrities are the most pathetic creatures on earth.  They have achieved the ultimate success, fame, glory, ridiculous wealth, yet their marriages are doomed, their children are a mess, and drugs and alcohol cannot ease the pain and the loneliness of their success.  They spend 24 hours a day focused on themselves, they are addicted to the limelight, to attention, good or bad.  They have sold their souls for fame.  If that truly is success, way are they so miserable?   We were created for the Kingdom of God, when we built our own kingdom we are left empty and wanting.  There are thousands of stories like this through out the Bible and the history of mankind.  Our stories are all the same, it does not matter where we live, what we have or what we do or do not possess, it does not matter if we are called to full time ministry, or full time market place.  It does not matter if we spend our days caring for our own little ones, or little ones that no one cares for. There is only one question matters, whose kingdom are we building?