Between Problems and Success ...

Monday, April 22, 2013. Our impression about how our life is can be extremely different. Is it going well? Are we well-set? Or do we have sincere difficulties, face deep problems?

Good or bad? …

Sometimes life seems happy and smooth. We are having a good time, everything seems to work out fine and there is nearly anything we could complain about. But there are other times in life. There is the time when everything seems to crash, when the fundament of our life seems to break and nothing can hold us.

The experiences of a “good life” and of a “life under attack” are basic experiences which many of us have had or have. Friends of ours seemed to have a fantastic family, with several kids and a relationship which was based on trust. But then the marriage broke down and the relationship to the kids also suffered severely over these problems.

Other people have a fantastic career, but the cancer comes and takes everything away. From one day to another the basis of life is different. Nothing is as it was any more. We had several people in our immediate environment, who lost their partners within days. Such a schock has deep impact … think about it!

Not of this world …

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Is life meant to build our little kingdoms on this earth? What is the concept we should follow in our life? Is life there for us to build something up constructively, and then hope for it to return the investment? Let us look into a passage where Jesus himself talks about this topic, standing in front of Pilate and threatened with death:

36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” 37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18, 36)

Jesus' kingdom is not of this world. He is a king, yes, and he is building his kingdom. In faith, we are a part of it. But it is not a kingdom which would be part of our worldly environment. It reaches far beyond this world … (Roland Potthast) ... more texts