Thy Kingdom Come

¹“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10). In biology, life is subdivided into different kingdoms. There’s the animal kingdom, the plant kingdom, the fungi kingdom, and so forth. All living things are sorted into these different kingdoms based on a set of shared fundamental characteristics. As we are presently constituted, we would all be sorted into the animal kingdom, because we’re multicellular, consume organic matter, breathe oxygen and check all of the other boxes that indicate into which kingdom we belong. But each of us has the potential to belong to another kingdom. “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3,5-6). When we are born again, we are no longer born of the flesh in the animal kingdom but are born of the Spirit in the Kingdom of God. Through dedicated effort in learning all that we can about our Savior Jesus Christ and applying His mercy and grace in our lives, we can truly be changed in our very nature. We continue to be multicellular and consume organic matter and breathe oxygen and all of the rest, but we also take on the characteristics of those that belong in the Kingdom of God. We are more patient and understanding, slower to anger and quicker to serve, more likely to reach out in love and friendship than in hatred and fear. We begin to think Celestial because we are becoming Celestial, for that is the Kingdom that we are beginning to see and become a part of when we are born again. When we are born again and enter into the Kingdom of God, we are not praying in vain that God’s kingdom may come. We bring it down around us. As we let our light shine, others will follow our example and be born again as well, thus making God’s Kingdom come all the faster and more completely.