My Kingdom

Daily Reading: John 18

My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. (John 18.36)

Devotional Thought: Jesus always said what he meant in the way he wanted to say it.  So, when he said, "My kingdom is not of this world," and "my kingdom is not from the world," he did so with meaning and purpose:

• The kingdom of Jesus is not of this world.  If Jesus had come to conquer an earthly authority, then certainly he, along with his many followers, would have been fighting the earthly powers that were trying to stop him, that he "might not be delivered over to the Jews."  The kingdom of Jesus is still not of this world.  We who belong to the kingdom of God have a new ethos (disposition, character, or fundamental values peculiar to a specific person, people, culture, or movement): love your neighbor as yourself.  We also have a new ethic (system of moral principles or values): do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

• The kingdom of Jesus is also not from this world.  Its citizenry is not divided by earthly race or geography or nationality, but it has an ethnos (people who share a distinctive culture) of its own: Jesus Christ has made his followers a "kingdom from every tribe and tongue."  Nor does Christ's kingdom derive its power from any worldly authority.  Rather, it originates from the higher ether (regions of space beyond the earth's atmosphere; the heavens).

Is Jesus' kingdom, your kingdom?

Jenny Wade

Prayer: Lord, I thank you that your kingdom is not from this world or of this world.  Help me to always remember that my citizenship is in heaven!  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 39.7-13

7 “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions. Do not make me the scorn of the fool!

9 I am mute; I do not open my mouth, for it is you who have done it.

10 Remove your stroke from me; I am spent by the hostility of your hand.

11 When you discipline a man with rebukes for sin, you consume like a moth what is dear to him; surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears! For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers.

13 Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more! ”