“My Father has granted Me a kingdom” (Luke 22:28 NASB)
In Colorado the most honest man you know will tell a boldface lie in order to protect his secret fishing hole or hunting spot. My dad is so tight-lipped about his that sometimes I have to remind him that I consider them part of my inheritance.
Imagine this. One year my dad decides it’s time to share his hunting spot with a younger protégé. So he holds a contest. Sharpshooting, tracking, field dressing, butchering, and cooking. I sweep every category, so my dad shows me his secret hunting grounds and works with me there to further refine my already excellent skills. Or I fall short and end up staying home while he gives his hunting spot to another.
No. That’s not how it works. It would grieve any son to have to strive and work and perform at a certain level in order to earn what his Father has stored up for him. Some sons do live in this unfortunate kind of reality, but it wounds the heart. Why? Because ultimate reality–the kingdom of God–is not like that.
This is how it really works:
Once when I had little to no hunting skill I said “Dad, I want to hunt with you” and he brought me. I know the place well now, the ridges, the forests and meadows, the roads and trails, and how the elk move through them. We hunt them each fall together because I am his son and what he has is mine.
This is how it really works.
Even Jesus is given his ownership of the kingdom in his status as son, and that’s how we enter the kingdom as well.
I love this story and all the beautiful truth it holds.
This story moved me when you shared it at 8500 and it’s good to read again. I need the daily or even hourly reminder to lay down the urge to strive and just be his son.