My six-year-old daughter, Karis, and I enjoyed a girl-time afternoon at Nutcracker Sweets, a smaller version of the live performance of the Nutcracker Ballet. In the middle of the hour of magnificent choreography, Karis leaned back her head, pushed aside the curls blanketing her face, and whispered, “This real show is so much better than the TV show!”
It’s one thing to know about going to the ballet—it’s another thing to watch from yards away as the sinew of the ballerina’s calf muscle rises and falls as she twirls on the pinpoint of her toes and jumps across the stage.
In a similar way to experiencing the ballet in person for real—it is one thing to talk about the Kingdom of God, but another thing entirely to experience it. And in Luke 14, Jesus teaches about entering the Kingdom of God.
He compares the Kingdom of God to a banquet, whose host invites his first-choice guests. But many of them are distracted—with property, business matters, relationships. “Please excuse me,” they reply.
They chose to follow other priorities rather the Banquet (the Kingdom of God).
Toward the end of the discourse, Luke records Jesus saying, “. . .those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples” (Luke 14:33).
Are we willing to give up whatever is needed in order to be in the Kingdom of God?
What might be distracting you from fully experiencing the Kingdom here — and in full measure when Christ returns?
Listen to the Luke 14 podcast for a moment of Scripture, reflect, and pray, and to ponder how you might be able to more fully experience the Kingdom.
