Freakomonics

In the recent bestseller, Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner state, "Morality represents the way we'd like the world to work, economics represents how it actually works." As a theologian (amateur, I do it for love,) I would state it this way

 

"Morality represents the way we'd like the world to work,

The Kingdom of God represents how it actually works."

 

We blah, blah, blah about morality all the time. We get depressed when things don't go the way we planned. We practice hypocrisy because morality is so hard to attain on our own will power.

 

But Jesus had a passion, not for morality, but for the Kingdom. He yearned for it. He preached it. He was it. The Kingdom is real reality. What we make up is bogus. And, trying to live in bogus-land is stressful.

 

In bogus-land, we want to be on top, but getting there is killing us. In bogus-land, we want revenge (or, at least judgment for others and mercy for ourselves,) but are left with a handful of emptiness at the end of the day. In bogus-land, we strive to control our environment and others, getting sick in the process.

 

In the Kingdom, the last are first and that's okay. In the Kingdom, mercy trumps judgment, and that's life-giving. In the Kingdom, unnoticed things and people, heck – even the impossible, triumph. In the Kingdom, everybody gets loved and no one keeps score. In the Kingdom, peace replaces TUMS. In the Kingdom, who you are and what you've got in talent are all God needs to usher in Paradise. In the Kingdom, time is full and an ally – never the crush of getting things done.

 

Lord, give me Kingdom vision, Kingdom passion, and Kingdom lifestyle. I want to be eternal.