Do you believe that God wants to give you His kingdom? I
love the beginning of today’s Scripture in Luke 12:32 “Do
not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased
to give you the kingdom. Most of us don’t really think God
wants to give us anything. We get stuck on the fact that we
will be judged when our time comes, but to be honest, as I
learn the Bible, I realize God isn’t looking at things that
way. He wants us to succeed and be prosperous in this life,
but He wants us to include Him and let Him make it even
better. He loves us that much.

Does that mean he doesn’t expect things from us? Yes, He
does. He expects us to be ready for His son’s return and to
be like the servants getting ready for their Masters’ return
after the wedding. Have you ever been waiting for some-
thing that keeps getting pushed off? You have to wait an-
other week and then another month, till it’s been years. This
waiting gets us complacent in our belief in what’s supposed
to happen, doesn’t it?

Even John the Baptist questioned Jesus when he was in
prison waiting. I guess he forgot what he said in John 1:29
when John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look,
the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world! Then as he lay in prison, he sent a message to Jesus
and asked in Matthew 11:3, “Are You the one who is to
come, or should we expect someone else?” Time has a way
of twisting things in our minds, and we start questioning.
Our belief gets smaller as our anxiety gets more prominent.
We question more and rationalize it into a different form.

The same is happening today, we hear a message about Je-
sus coming back, and no one gets excited or reacts any-
more. We are no longer sitting at the window anticipating
His arrival. We’ve all become very complacent about it, and
we think we have plenty of time. The disciples thought Je-
sus would be back in their day, so if you think about it, it’s
even closer for us. How can we change our thinking? How
can we get excited about something that seems so far off?

Maybe it’s time to remember that His kingdom is ours if we
want it. When Jesus comes back, He doesn’t expect to find
us perfect, there was only one perfect human to walk this
earth, and His name was Jesus. God knows all our mistakes.
He knows what choices we will make, but what He wants is
to be with us when we make these choices. He wants a rela-
tionship with us, to see us opening our hearts to Him. How
do we do that? Spend time with God, repent of our sins and
bring Him into our decision-making. Get involved in His
ministries, not because we go to heaven on our works, be-
cause we go by our beliefs, but our works back up that be-
lief. Let God guide you, not in this world but look to His
world, which helps make this world more tolerable. So,
when you think it’s too far off that Jesus won’t be back any
time soon, remember to not be afraid, little flock, for your
Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom, which
makes it all worthwhile. ~~Barb Novad