REFLECTIONS
January 16, 2011
 
 
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33
 
 
Living on a Cul-de-sac       
 
The journey is an adventure. That’s what it is supposed to be—seeking the future, exploring the unknown, taking risks, venturing into uncommon places, choosing paths that lead to the unfamiliar while in search of meaning and purpose. Adventure helps us launch a career, build a home, rear a family, and build our domain. Dallas Willard calls the domain a kingdom, and he describes kingdoms as spheres of influence.
Once established, our spheres of influence can define the way we live our lives. Adventure that began it all becomes supplanted by daily routines—travel to workplaces, grocery stores, children’s schools, their soccer games, and church on Sundays then back again. The routines become like living on a cul-de-sac where the roads run in elliptical patterns to other cul-de-sacs and return us to where it all began. We begin to live as if the roads have no outlets though because of their continuous design it doesn’t seem so.
But there are outlets along the roads we routinely travel. And adventure waits as we blindly pass by roads that lead to poverty stricken areas, illness ridden homes, lonely people in search of a friend, and the lost looking for a new way of life. Some outlets lead to distant lands, some pass through dangerous areas of the city, and others are pathways to ghettos and prisons. Some of them may take us to places we don’t understand, but they may also lead to the home of a fellow worker or the neighbor next door. The outlets reach beyond the cul-de-sac patterns we follow, and beyond the cul-de-sac is God’s kingdom.
The little kingdoms we control are a part of God’s kingdom. After all He controls everything. But Jesus did not just ask us to control our own kingdoms. He asks us to seek his. And to seek God’s kingdom we must reach beyond our own. There we rekindle the adventure that began it all, to climb mountains, cross seas, and venture into the uncomfortable. We seize opportunity to share what we have with those in poverty, care for the sick, offer friendship to the lonely, and teach a new way of life to the lost.
The journey is an adventure. That’s what it is supposed to be—seeking the future, exploring the unknown, taking risks, venturing into uncommon places, choosing paths that lead to the unfamiliar while in search of meaning and purpose. Adventure carries life beyond the elliptical patterns of living on a cul-de-sac.
Beyond the cul-de-sac is God’s kingdom. And that’s what He asks us to seek.
 
“You are the light of the world.”
RichardÌ
 

www.reflectingthesavior.org.


Click here for Printer Friendly Version