Page 56 - First Steps 2023
P. 56

And there you have it: The top Kingdom priorities in a nutshell: Be
            loving toward God and others and do nurture the faith of others.
                But keep those in order: Who you are is more important than what
            you do. God is after your heart and, once it’s his, he’ll equip you to do far

            more than you ever thought possible.


            5. Develop a Kingdom perspective.
                Once you’ve been living in God’s Kingdom awhile, you’ll just naturally
            begin asking a question whenever you face a significant decision: “Am I
            seeking the Kingdom of God?”
                The benefits of living in the Kingdom are so powerful you won’t want
            to risk compromising your place there. Your desire to please God will have
            risen through the ranks to be your highest goal.

                You’ll begin seeing everything differently—including your problems…
            which will somehow begin to shrink.
                Not that they’ll go away. Not that you won’t get sick, suffer loss, get
            an unwanted diagnosis. God never promises to protect his people from
            difficulties (just ask the Jewish people…), but he does promise to walk
            with us through hard times.
                When you begin recognizing just how vast, powerful, and eternal
            God’s Kingdom is, your problems shrink because you understand how
            small they are in
            proportion to the                         Big Kingdom
            Kingdom. You
            have hope. You
            have peace. You                                         B
            have joy.          Big Problem
                Consider the

            following diagram             B
            showing two dif-                              A
            ferent ways you         A
            can think about
            a problem in your
            life.

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