The kingdom of God
Though the shopping list we bring to the market with us is often long, the list of prayers that we bring with us to a temple, church, gurdwara or mosque is comparatively short.
Long or short, we tightly hold to the record of our needs when we pray. The more serious the requirement to pray for, the more intense the prayer tends to be. And though sometimes the list may contain serious concerns like a dear one’s cure from a life-threatening illness or a grave pending danger to one’s reputation or life, by and large the requests are simple like clearing of an examination, promotion in the job, buying a house or a car and so on. Rarely, if ever, our minds and hearts are raised to God asking to improve our spiritual life or for a gift to become more intimate with the Divine.
God often tends to be used as that dispensing machine which, on request, often accompanied with a promise of donation to the holy place, would sooner or later drop the object of our wish in our lap.
During Jesus’ life time, people with different needs, mainly the sick, approached him with faith and he granted them their wish. Though Jesus told his disciples, “Seek and you will find; ask and it shall be given to you, knock and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7), the common theme that we find running through the gospels is about “the Kingdom of God”, sometimes “God” being interchangeable with “Heaven”. The phrase appears 158 times in the New Testament books. In the very first chapter, Mark’s gospel says, “After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”(Mark 1:14-15), and again Matthew’s gospel says, “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23). But the striking announcement from Jesus in this regard is, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33).
If we went to each of our holy places with a sincere desire to find God and His plans for us and our world by trying to spend our lives according to the values of the Kingdom of God which Mahatma Gandhi conceived of as “Ram Rajya” then God will automatically take care of all our needs. Not the way we would want them but the way He thinks is best for us. This would happen, provided that we have first sought the righteousness of God, which includes living honestly and truthfully.
Post new comment