When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
1 Chronicles 17:11-12 (NIV)

After living over 40 years as a disciple of Jesus, I’ve come to realize that one of the greatest spiritual challenges one has on this earthly journey is to see the things of this earthly life in the context of God’s Kingdom. If I step back and look at the theme that Jesus was always preaching it was to live my life and relate to others with a Kingdom of God perspective.

So much of daily life is filled with earthbound needs and priorities. There a jobs to do, bills to pay, kids to raise, and a never-ending list of life’s daily maintenance tasks that make me empathize with Sisyphus.

I can let all of these things distract me from God’s Kingdom, which I’ve observed to be the human default. Jesus asks me to see all of it, to approach all of it, and to execute all of it with God’s Kingdom in mind. If you read Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), you’ll basically find that it is His overarching theme of the entire thing. Approach and live out daily life with God’s Kingdom in mind.

In today’s chapter, David moves into his new palace. I picture him walking out onto the balcony and viewing the tent he had constructed as a temple for God and the Ark of the Covenant. He immediately sees the contrast in earthly terms. “I live in a gorgeous palace, while I put God in a tent. Somethings not right here.” And, I have to honor David’s sensitivity. For those of us who have gone to beautiful, opulent buildings, cathedrals, basilicas, and the like for church on Sunday, David’s thinking feels right.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.”
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)

What struck me in the quiet this morning was God’s response His appointed King, the “man after His own heart.”

“Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”

God didn’t ask David to build a temple. It’s a nice thought and all, but God has other things in mind in the context of God’s Kingdom. David is thinking bricks and mortar. God’s Kingdom is about flesh, blood, and Spirit. I love that God flips David’s desire 180 degrees: “Oh no, David. You’re not going to build Me a house. I’m going to build you my kind of house!”

God then explains that He is going to channel David’s earthly kingdom into God’s eternal Kingdom. From David’s line, from the House of David, will come God’s Son who will be the King of Kings. He will build God a House made of flesh-and-blood children from every nation, tribe, people, and language who sit at the table with Him eating the bread and drinking the wine of a new covenant. From tent to temple to table.

David is thinking in the context of a building in Jerusalem in 1000 B.C. God is thinking in the context of the plans He has for an eternal Kingdom beyond time.

And there it is again. David, with all good intentions, is stuck in his earthbound thinking. God invites Him to expand his heart and mind to see things in terms of the Kingdom of God. Just like His Son Jesus invites me to do in His teaching. He who would be the One to invite me to the table for a meal of bread and wine where my flesh and blood is transformed into the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

And here I sit in the quiet on a Friday morning, with every good intention to make good on the day ahead of me. I am God’s temple, God’s Spirit in me. As I head into day 21,231 of my earthly journey, a simple ordinary day, I endeavor to live in Kingdom context. I want to see each task as a Liturgy of the Ordinary, each moment with others as a divine opportunity, and each challenge as God’s classroom to educate me on Kingdom living.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.