I’ve seen a lot of strange things in my life while driving. I’ve seen other drivers eat full meals behind the wheel. Once I saw someone eating a bowl of soup while driving! I’ve seen women put on makeup, men shave their faces, kids playing games on their iPhones. All of it is distracted driving, which is the number one cause of vehicle accidents and deaths in this country.
Distracted driving is when you do anything other than the one thing you’re supposed to do. It’s doing anything other than what you were told to do in Driver’s Ed. It’s doing anything other than what your car was designed to do.
When we get behind the wheel of a 4,000 pound car, we need to feel the weight of the responsibility – literally. We need to realize how powerful the big hunk of metal and plastic and rubber underneath us is. We need to acknowledge the fact that if we don’t drive the right way, bad things will follow.
We also need to feel the weight of responsibility in our lives. Just like distracted driving, distracted living can be harmful to ourselves and others. When we treat life any other way than how we’re supposed to, we get our eyes off the road. And we lose sight of what’s ridiculously important – our relationship with Jesus Christ.
A car was designed for driving. You were designed for living. And more than that! You were designed by God for abundant, everlasting, eternal life! We were all designed to live “up there down here.” We were put on this earth not to just go through the motions until we die. The point of life is not to die and go to heaven. It’s to live in a way that brings heaven down to earth.
Jesus taught us a lot of stuff that we’ve sometimes ignored. A big part of his teaching is found in the Sermon on the Mount. Right at the center of that sermon is his teaching on prayer. We call it the Lord’s Prayer for good reason. And right in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer is this line:
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
-Matthew 6:10
We Pray for God’s Kingdom
Jesus taught us to pray for God’s kingdom to come. Not to wait around for it. Not to hope it happens. And not to bide our time until we die and end up in heaven. No. We need to pray that God’s kingdom shows up right here, right now.
Jesus told us in Matthew 4:17 that the “kingdom of heaven is here!” We don’t have to wait for it. In heaven, it will be impossible to ignore the presence of God. And you know what? It’s the same thing here on earth if we really pay attention. If we get our eyes back on the road. Find ways to acknowledge the real, kingdom presence of God in your life every day.
We Pray for God’s Kingdom and God’s Will
We all have a kingdom. You have a kingdom and I have a kingdom. In America, we don’t live in a kingdom. We live in a representative democracy. We choose our leaders, and we don’t choose them for life. But in our lives, we all follow certain rules and regulations and behaviors that align us with a certain kingdom. A kingdom is the way I really want things to go in my life.
When I decide that God’s will is better than my will, when I consciously decide to do what he wants and what he says is best, then I’m really living. Because I’m really living in his kingdom. And his kingdom is always better than my kingdom.
We Pray for God’s Kingdom and God’s Will Right Here
Where can God’s kingdom show up in the little corner of earth you call home? Where is God’s reign really absent? Where could his power and presence make the biggest difference? Where do you need him to show up?
It could be your school, your neighborhood, the “rough part of town,” or just your workplace. When we pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, there are no limits. In fact, the places that feel most absent of God should be where we focus most intently our prayers.
How are you living out the kingdom of God in your life? Keeping your eyes on the road means that you find ways each day to do God’s will before your own.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.