Willard Wednesdays

The Divine Conspiracy: Chapter 1 Entering the Eternal Kind of Life Now (pp.28-33)

Walking through this book on Wednesdays with some quotes from a favorite teacher/author on the Kingdom of God, Dallas Willard....

These passages help remind me of the great accessibility and invitation today to live in his grace and will.

The Kingdom of Heaven has come near....

"It is indeed the Kingdom Among Us.  You can reach it from your heart with your mouth-through even a shaky and stumbling confidence and confession that Jesus is the death-conquering Master of all (Romans 10:9).

To be sure , that kingdom has been here as long as we humans have been here, and longer. But it has been available to us through simple confidence in Jesus, the Anointed, only from the time he became a public figure.  It is a kingdom that, in the person of Jesus welcomes us just as we are, just where we are, and makes it possible for us to translate our 'ordinary' life into an eternal one.  It is so available that everyone who from the center of his or her being calls upon Jesus the Master of the Universe and Prince of Life will be heard and will be delivered into the eternal kind of life."

"One thing that may mislead us about the meaning of 'at hand' in Jesus' basic message is the fact that other kingdoms are still present on earth along with the kingdom of the heavens.  They too are 'at hand'.  That is the human condition.  Persons other than God, such as you or I, are still allowed on earth to have a 'say' that is contrary to his will.  A kingdom of darkness is here, certainly, and the kingdoms of many individuals who are still 'trying to run their own show.'"  

"Right beside and among the kingdoms that are not God's stands his kingdom, always 'at hand'.  It is that of Jesus and his heavenly Father.  It can be ours as well.  The door is open, and life in that kingdom is real.  Even now 'the whole earth is full of his glory' (Isaiah 6:3).  True, few see it.  The earth is not yet 'filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.' But that too one day 'shall be'.  (Heb. 2:14)