Responsibility in the kingdom

The heavens are bowed down for the kingdom of God to come near to a man. An individual becomes the point of contact between the kingdom of heaven and the world. Like Gideon, he is given authority over things in this life. Because the kingdom of God is near, an individual becomes significant.

This is inherent in the message of Jesus Christ. We are the light of the world; we are the salt of the earth. Not because we were the light of the world, or the salt of the earth. We were not. But as a point of contact between the kingdom of heaven and this world, we are given the power to be these things. In this He holds us responsible.

"...And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more." Luke 12:48

The power of the kingdom of God is available; God can hold me responsible for what I have done with that. He expects nothing out of the strength of my flesh; He can expect something from what He has made available to me.

This is the central issue of repentance. We are used to muddling; we are used to failing. We have built a culture around our failure to be holy. We expect little from ourselves. We like a good movie about heroes who do something, who never give up. But that is as close as we want to come to a real challenge. Repentance is not being sorry that we are weak; repentance is changing how we think about life. We are weak, so what! Are we to keep beating a dead horse?

Repentance is to embrace the kingdom of God coming near in me. Repentance is to embrace responsibility as a son of God. Repentance is to let go of our role as the infants of God.