43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Someday, all the evil will be removed from the universe, God’s Kingdom. On that day the brightness of God’s image in us will shine brightly, billions of small candles before the brightness of the purity of the Lord. It is hard to imagine just how impure the world is from God’s perspective. We don’t really know the extent of the affects of sin in the world. We don’t know what it was like in the Garden, and we don’t know what it will be like when all the affects of sin have been removed. The parable of the weeds talks about the removal of those individuals who were sent into the world by Satan to purposefully bring havoc to the crop planted by God. We don’t know what a society would be like if everyone was serving Jesus. Can you imagine everyone looking out for the other person’s interest rather than their own, each person serving the other first, everyone serving and being served? We can’t imagine a world of justice and equity. We all long for this, but because of sin we never really get to experience it. Our longings go unanswered. We know that something is missing, but we can’t fully visualize what “right” looks like. We can individually practice “right”, but we are so often isolated that we don’t get to experience that in a fuller context. Until Jesus rules and reigns we will always fall short of a just society. Remember, Jesus did not call His disciples to set up an earthly kingdom. He called them to be witnesses. Our primary goal is to live godly in Christ Jesus, not take over the political system and force our moral values on the society. You can’t live godly lives through coercive means.
The Arnold Journey 