I got a letter from my aunt the other day.
She’s a Jehovah’s Witness.
Her whole family is.
The letter was less of the warning most would expect, and more of a reassuring reminder that Jehovah’s Kingdom would soon arrive and take away the pain we feel.
It was actually an encouraging letter.
My family had lost both my nephew and my cousin in less than 6 months, and we were all feeling a bit down and out.
My aunt, like most Christians, believes that we’re living in the Last Days. If you’re not familiar with what that is, it’s a period of time right before the world as we know it ends. This period marks the end of the curse on humanity and the return to a better way of life, here on Earth. It’s a prophecy widely held by people of varying faiths and religions.
There was something my aunt wrote in her letter that stood out to me. She said that there was one more prophecy to be fulfilled before the end of The Last Days. She referenced the Bible verses found in 2 Timothy 3:1–4.
The verses say:
This know also, that in the Last Day perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Although My aunt said that this was last prophecy to be fulfilled, I believe it already has.
So where does that leave us?
According to my aunt’s letter, we’re going to see ‘the system of things’ collapse. But what does that mean, ‘system of things.’
If you’re familiar with what the Bible says, you know that it emphasizes the immaterial treasures stored-up for those who seek it. In other words, the Bible suggests that abiding by a healthy value system is key in living a life pleasing before God.
When we consider our contemporary culture and it’s emphasis on self-glorification and material gain, it’s easy to see that our ideas about life are far away from what God intended them to be.
You don’t have to turn on the television or turn to social media to affirm the characteristics found in those verses. It’s safe to say that we, as a social order, have strayed so far away from the Will of God that we have no other place to turn but into God’s Will.
It’s no coincidence, then, that the most common salutation of our time is a warning, ‘Be Safe.’
What is the Kingdom of Heaven
So where do we go from here?
How do we begin letting go of the system of things and begin inheriting the kingdom of God?
Well, first, we have to answer the question what is the Kingdom of God. The best way to answer that question is to live by what Galatians 5:22–24 calls The Fruit of the Spirit.
Ever saw the movie Peter Pan? Remember the part where The Lost Boys are sitting around the table eating invisible food? And they have to make Peter believe before he can see and taste the food?
The Kingdom of Heaven works the same way, you have to believe in it’s fruit before you can taste it’s goodness. And to explain it’s goodness to someone who hasn’t tasted it’s fruit, well, is like explaining an invisible God.
How do we gain access to it?
So how we gain access to the Kingdom?
Once we’ve built up our faith that in God’s Will, we have to begin a process of detoxing. If they way we were living up til now wasn’t in accordance to God’s Will, we have to begin removing all the influences that moved us out of God’s way.
This can be a difficult challenge, especially when we consider that the society we will in is full of negative influences. When we take that into consideration, we have to imagine that the person we have become might be an image of what our society projected on us.
So we have to begin a process of relearning ourselves. That means understanding the influences that make us unique.
Many people turn to yoga, meditation, journaling, prayer, counseling, therapy or other means for recovering themselves.
Often times, what we’ll learn in the process is that harmful experiences have had just as much a hand in sculpting our identity as positive ones.
These experiences form the basis for how we perceive, structure and approach our lives. Looking back, allows us to find the meaning in both the good and the bad. Doing so, opens us to a better perspective on how those interwoven experiences chartered the course of our lives.
Often, those experiences provide insight into our deepest questions. Understanding this allows us to see The Hand of God.
When we allow ourselves time for that type of introspection, we’re able to remove past emotional barriers blocking us from living full lives and inheriting the kingdom.
