Last summer the rhododendron plants set this year’s blossoms. The buds were formed and all winter they have slept and waited for this coming June. We have hundreds of blossoms waiting to overwhelm us with beauty. This afternoon I stood holding one in my hand and I understood much more about Jesus’ kingdom.
In Mark 1 we read, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.’” If we were expecting an immediate change in government it didn’t happen and Jesus would have been a false prophet. But Jesus never sought to overtly overthrow any political establishment. Instead He was far more subtle and far more effective. Had He demanded the fruit of Christianity to immediately be established, anarchy would have ensued. But ever so slowly the internal principles, the fruit of the Spirit, matured in the minds of people. Civil rights, equality of women, religious liberty, the value of a single human life and the emancipation of slavery are a few of the revolutionary and radical changes that have blossomed in nations populated by large Christian populations. Our world is not the same world in which He said, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”
Most of us are impatient for moral change. We want to reform the world in our time. We want to see the fruit of our teaching manifest itself in our children. For Jesus it was setting the blossoms and knowing in due season the hearts of men would be aroused to do the morally right thing. We have a tendency to want to believe the world is getting worse and worse but a careful examination of history reveals that so much good has come to us and we can trace it back to the teachings of a Galilean carpenter.
Written by Roger Bothwell on March 25, 2011
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org