Out of the Wild: An Intro

Jesus commanded his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Mt. 6:33). He gives this command in light of the fact that we all tend to worry about our lives. Jesus points out things like food, drink, and clothing, but our worries often extend to relationships, finances, and careers as well.

Whenever our minds start to focus on these things, we rarely bring our minds back to what Jesus says should be our main focus: the kingdom of God. One of the main reasons this is the case likely stems from the fact that we tend to think about God’s kingdom only in vague, general terms. But when Jesus tells us to seek his kingdom first, it’s not just about concentrating on good concepts like peace, truth, or the church.

We need to know what the kingdom of God looks like in the here and now. We need to know how it manifests in our day-to-day lives because, the majority of the time, the world seems to be completely out of control and perfectly worth worrying about.

A great description for this world would be ‘wild.’ Every headline seems to underscore a world gone out of control. It seems dog-eat-dog. Everyone seems out to get everyone else as if there’s no justice, no peace, and no truth.

Yet, the promise of God that accompanies the introduction of his kingdom is that it actually is one of truth, peace, and justice. The very call of God is that we would be drawn out of the wild and into his righteous, orderly kingdom.

The next few posts will focus on what God’s kingdom is and why it matters in our day-to-day living, and the funny thing about the Bible is that the kingdom of God is one of the main themes that runs through the whole book. There’s a narrative from beginning to end in which God’s kingdom is a primary theme.

At several key moments in the story, we get a glimpse of God’s kingdom from a different angle that helps us understand what it is and how we each play a part in it.

So, in a world gone completely crazy, how is it that we are supposed to find our way out of the wild and into his perfectly ordered kingdom?

Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7