Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ~Luke 12:32
What an extravagant claim! Jesus calls his disciples to look to God as Father and to see themselves as his heirs who will receive His kingdom. The offer would sound ludicrous to the ear of his disciples! God our Father? Heirs of the Kingdom? We know God as Lord and we are his servants, but such intimacy seems outlandish. But here it is in the Gospel according to Luke.
When our ideas of the Kingdom of God and His character get challenged we often revert to defense mode. Our deeply rooted sentiment often blinds us of the deep riches that are found in the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus confronts our preconceived notions of God and throws open the doors of His extravagant love and mercy toward sinners! What great grace the Father extends to all who by faith trust and follow Jesus. He considers us His sons and daughters and says, “You, my child, this all belongs to you! Share in my kingdom and find your joy!”
At once I sense this deep longing to run through the gates of such mercy and to fill the landscape of God’s kingdom with songs of adoration and praise! But not so fast. In order to enter into this kind of joy there must be a letting go. Forfeit, give up, and let go of your treasures. Enter empty handed. The kingdom of God cannot be possesed without a rejection of all that we hold dear on this earth. If we want the kingdom, it must be all we want. To try and hold onto the stuff of earth while reaching for the kingdom is only to hold the stuff of earth. But to loosen our grip on the temporary is to lay hold of the eternal. Jesus says to us:
I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on…Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. ~Luke 12:22;31
Jesus is intent on getting us to understand the value of knowing and trusting God as Father. He looks at his disciples…he looks at us and calls us to a radical response. His desire is that we see the beauty, majesty, and glory of the kingdom that he beckons us to radical surrender:
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. ~Luke 12:32-34
All of the kingdom is ours when the kingdom is all we want.
