God's Upside Down Kingdom

“My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. . . .
my Kingdom is not of this world.”
John 18:36 NLT

The Kingdom of God isn’t anything like those ruled by kings, presidents, congressmen, dictators, any worldly power. His kingdom looks totally upside down according to this world’s standards.

Jesus’ kingdom belongs not to the big shots, not to the clever manipulators, not to the powerful bullies, not to the highly educated PhD’s, not to the applauded “beautiful people.” It’s not about prestige and power at all.

Look at these passages to find out who are the true possessors of the kingdom:

…Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.  Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NLT

At that time Jesus prayed this prayer: “O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way!
Matthew 11:25-26 NLT

About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:1-4 NLT

Children, the humble, the powerless, the little ones…these are at the top of God’s upside down kingdom.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3 ESV

…like my granddaughter Claire. God’s kingdom is hers.

I’ve told you about her, but in case you missed it…

Claire has been falling in love with God for years now. When she was about 4 years old, Claire asked me one day,
”Babci [my Polish name for G’ma], who told you about God?”
I answered, ”My mom.”
Claire replied, “Babci, tell me about God.”

And that’s what we have done, visit after visit, we have talked about God. We have read stories and sung songs and talked about Jesus, Who He is and how He loves each of us. So simple and pure and lovely.

I would return home from my visits with Claire deeply warmed in my heart by her beautiful little person who loves God and everything about Him.

Well, my recent visit with Claire was most precious of all.

We had bought Claire her own “big person Bible” recently. And so we were practicing how to look up Bible verses. Our list came from a Bible story book we loved (This I Know by Clay Anderson — highly recommended)

There were hidden scripture references scattered throughout the pages, so we found and used these “random” verses as our search list. But these verses were certainly not random to the Spirit of God. There was one that particularly grabbed both Claire and this Babci.

1 Peter 1:8 NLT
You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
 
As Claire found the verse, our conversation went like this:

Claire read, “You love him even though you have never seen him.”
I said, “Have you ever seen God, Claire?”
Claire replied, “No.”
I asked, “Do you love Him?”
She replied with great depth of emotion, “O yes!”

Claire continued to read, “Though you do not see him now, you trust him;”
I asked again, “Do you see Him now?”
Claire answered, “No.”
I asked, “Do you trust Him?”
Then with the same depth of emotion, she replied, “O yes!”

Then with a little help reading the word “inexpressible,”
Claire continued, “you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.”
I asked, “Do you feel that warm, wonderful, full feeling inside?”
”YES!”

And then I read the following verse,

“The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls”

… knowing Claire was already well on her way in that first stage of faith…awe of God, the King of the Upside Down Kingdom.

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
Mathew 5:3 NLT

“The kingdom of God does not come with observation;
nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’
For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Luke 17:20-21 NKJV