the unshakable kingdom

One of my favorite verses has always been Hebrews 12:28 -- "

Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."

I'm realizing now that when I think back on the good days in Missouri, and I fondly remember how much I loved the worship at James River, it wasn't just because worship feels good.  It was because all of that time in worship was time that I was giving God to prepare me for serving Him.  Because he was giving me that kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Think about it-- everything in our lives can be shaken.  You could get sick tomorrow, and lose your job, and then your finances would go down the tubes, and who knows what would happen to your relationships, and the economy could collapse, and dynasties and regimes have been falling for centuries, and the very ground we stand on can be shaken from deep within the earth and tumble away.

But God's kingdom cannot be shaken.  It can't be shaken!  It can't be moved.  It won't fall away.

What do we make of that?  How do we respond to it?  How do we receive something so foreign?  Something so unlike our own lives and bodies?

We worship.  Because God is holy.  And because in worship he refines us, he makes us unshakable.

The Message puts that last bit like this -- ""For God is not an indifferent bystander.  He's actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to be burned..."

Torching!

I love that.  God is taking a blow torch to our sin.  To the parts of us that are fleshy and weak and shaky.  So that we can be strong, and unshakable, and full of reverence and awe.  Ready to take our place in His Kingdom.