An intense debate has spanned the nearly 13 years of my marriage: JIF versus Peter Pan Peanut Butter. Don't laugh. This is serious stuff.
While we can’t agree on which brand is better, we agree on how to store it.
Did you know that the proper way to store your peanut butter jar is upside down? This keeps the oils balanced within the container. And if this is the appropriate way to store it, why do the distributors continue to print inverted labels on the jar?
Over the last several months, we have been looking at the Parables of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, seeing through stories how Jesus turns a backward world in the right direction.
Leading into one of his most powerful stories, the Parable of the Persistent Widow, Jesus tells his audience that the Kingdom of God is within you. He uses the word entos, which means “within, inside, among” “within your soul…”
The other time Jesus uses the word “entos” was when he told the Pharisees that they were hypocrites because they make sure the outside of their cups are so clean, but the entos, the inside of their cups are full of filthy corruption.
What if Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God is not seen externally in signs and end of time watching, because the significant work of the Kingdom is within us, transforming us to live in the way that God designed for us to live.
The Kingdom of God is within us. God is not just out there, externally at work in the world, because God also abides within you. The Kingdom of God is within you, right here, right now.
The same power that breathed life into existence, the very same strength that bore the cross and resurrected from the dead, the courage to break down religious and social boundaries, the inexplicable power of love, resides within you. The Kingdom of God is within you.
So as we wrap up this series, seeing all the challenging ways in which Jesus is turning our world in the right direction, may we come to see that God’s power dwells within us to be a part of such radical transformation.