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Kingdom Conversations Part 1
Brian Mashburn
July 15, 2007
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Kingdom Conversations Part 1
"Can I come to work with you?" my son requested.
This always puts me in a dilemma. See, I've read how things were back in the good-'ol-days. And I'm not talking about the days that anyone still with us lived through. I'm talking about the good-ol-ancient-days, before machines, when men went farming, or hunting so that his family could live. The sons would "go to work" with their dad's as soon as they could walk. Survival depended on it. Fathers and sons spent most of his hours in a day, and most of his days in a year, and most of his years growing up...with his dad. Conversation and relationship...or "oneness"...was required.
They weren't being "good dads". It's just how they survived back then. It's not that I don't appreciate the computer I'm typing on, or the temperature control on the wall, or the telephone on my desk, or the indoor bathroom down the hall. It's just that my particular work isn't very conducive to Shade coming with me to do (nor is his coming conducive to my getting it done). The age I live in doesn't require him to learn my profession to survive. And that is wonderful and fine, but I feel a sense of loss each time he asks to come to work.
What I feel like I am missing out on, that the sons of old had, was a context through which they had conversation and built a relationship. Through it, the son learned about his values, his priorities, his ethic's, his heart...in numerous and invisible ways, sons became like their dads. So, fathers and sons, devote yourselves to conversations if you want to know each other.
Why am I telling you this? Because if we are going to grow up into Kingdom citizens, it will require conversation and relationship with the King. And unless you live in a monastery, your life isn't structured to provide oneness with God through which you will learn God's values, priorities, and heart.
So, to rid yourself of the Colossians 3 "Kingdom Don'ts" in vs. 5-9, and to grow into the "Kingdom Do's" of vs. 12-17, you will want to follow Paul's advice in 4:2 --
"Devote yourselves to prayer."