Doesn’t it
sometimes feel like the way things are handled in our greater world of politics
just isn’t cutting it? The endless and vicious circle of talking points, ad hominin
attacks and a victory at all costs mindset that hurts anyone in the way. This
has been part of the steady polarization we see in the culture around us in the
West, particularly in the United States.

CS Lewis famously wrote, “If we find ourselves with a desire that
nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we
were made for another world.”

This fits perfectly in line with the message given to not just the
Christians of the early church in the New Testament, but also to the natural
nation of Israel. Their way of life commanded by God was meant to distinguish
themselves in the culture around them as a people doing things differently.
From having no standing military, a king who was a humble servant of the
people, a priesthood with no means of amassing political or economic power, and
a redemption and jubilee system that ensured that even the disadvantaged were
able to maintain and provide for themselves.

What does this
maybe look like in our day? We feel uneasy or unsettled that the answers our
political systems are providing don’t seem to fit the mold we see in Scripture.
We want to see not just

Then throw in
the mix our fallen humanities insatiable desire for power. In Scripture (both Old
and New Testament) this desire is often personified with the city of Babylon. A
place of idolatry, power and wealth that conquered and commanded other nations.
This desire for power is something every human is susceptible to.

When Christ
came an inaugurated the “Kingdom of Heaven”, things would never be the same.
The systems of this world are turned upside down with how things would be run.
Think of the Sermon on the Mount as the constitution or founding document,
where we see how citizens of this Kingdom are to represent and follow the King
in a new way of life.

Now, back to
that Lewis quote. When he talks about another world, this is not something
being said about just living and being in heaven. That is a myopic and shallow
understanding of God’s Kingdom. That different world is what God intends for
His creation. A Kingdom, a people transformed and changed by Him who make a
world that is known by its love and different way of doing things, not enslaved
to the grasping for power that we see, attempt and experience here and now.  

The Kingdom of
Heaven has been inaugurated, and is waiting to be consummated. It is not
finalized, but it is working. Slowly and surely through history it is growing
and changing the world around it bringing us back to how God intended it.