In The Clear

Rebecca Inglis - January 31, 2021

Alternate Anger

Watch
Listen

Last Saturday, as my extended family celebrated my daughters’ 18th Birthday, we watched multiple groups of sky divers land right in front of us on the beach near the lagoon at North Wollongong. We were all talking about how great it would be to go sky diving, especially in this beautiful part of the world. My adventure-loving sister-in-law said that she’d loved to go sky diving, but she felt worried about doing it at this stage in her life because her kids, all still in primary school, depend on her. While the prospect of sky diving is exciting, for Carol, the risk associated with this activity does not align with her value of family, and her priorities and choices have changed since becoming a parent. Every day we make choices, and for those of us who are parents, our choices often reflect the value we place on raising our kids. Fortunately, my children are now all adults, so sky diving is back on the must-do-one-day list for me. Every day, every one of us makes choices. Jesus invites his followers to make their decisions reflective of the values of his alternate kingdom. As people who are seeking to follow Jesus, we are not limited by the choices this world offers us. God has an alternate plan for us, and Jesus introduces this revolutionary kingdom in the Sermon on the Mount. He contrasts the pattern, power, and product of two kingdoms: the old one which we are currently under, and an alternate kingdom, a new kingdom which both is, and is to come. It’s the way God designed life to be. One day this will be eternity, but right now it’s an alternate kingdom. Jesus’ teaching goes against every instinct and represents a reversal of the world’s values. Over the next six weeks we’ll look at some of those alternate values and explore the kingdom of God as an alternative to the kingdom of this world. This Sunday we begin where Jesus began, looking at anger. We’ll be encouraged not to just decrease death, but to advance love, and forgiveness and hope, because the alternate kingdom Jesus came to bring isn’t about minimum harm, but maximum good.

Scripture References: Matthew 5:13-26