Men cannot say, “Look, here it is,” or “there it is,” for the kingdom of God is inside you
Luke 17:21 (PHILLIPS)
We like to grow our own sprouts. Sprouts are know to be anti-inflamatory, anti-aging and possibly, anti-cancer. They are relatively easy to grow in a mason jar in our kitchen. Our favorite sprout is called “Brocolli and Friends.” It is a combination of brocolli, clover, red radish and alfalfa. Sprouts are low in calories, but high in nutrients like Vitamin A and C and minerals like calcium and Iron. The reason sprouts are so nutritious is because they contain all the potential of the plant in a concentrated form.
The Bible makes a lot of reference to the fact that the Kingdom of God — the Kingdom Jesus came to inaugurate — is in us. The word, entos, is the same word that Jesus used to talk about the “inside of the cup” in Matthew 23:26. But, even if it means “in your midst” or “among you” like some of the translations say, the meaning is still pretty much the same. The potential for the Kingdom being made on earth like it is in heaven is available and the seed has been planted in us.
All of the instructions and guidance are contained within the seed. I don’t have to coach the seeds or instruct them, I just put them in the right environment and they began to mature. Likewise, the fact that the kingdom is within us is not a question for me. The bigger question is why am I not allowing it to grow? I assume it has a lot to do with me nurturing the false self and not the real, inner self where the Kingdom resides.
I believe God wants to set the world right. How will He do that? The actual potential for setting the world right is not a future action that God will take. It is something He wants to do now and he wants to nurture and grow it within us. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees–one of the most unlikely of candidates for nurturing the new Kingdom that Jesus was inaugurating. But, even these people that couldn’t understand Jesus had the seeds of the Kingdom of God inside them.
When the problems of the world seem too big to overcome, we imagine huge solutions. Maybe the answer is as small as a seed that has already been engineered with all the instruction for good health. We don’t need a grand plan for a large garden, maybe we just need to place the seeds of the Kingdom into the right environment and allow it to grow.
Do you understand that you are part of the solution? Allow it to grow inside you!
Blessings,
Karl
The Desert Sanctuary 