February 13, 2024 Daily Dose of Discernment

“My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)

When Pontius Pilate examined Jesus, he asked Him if He was a king. Jesus then delivered His famous line, "My kingdom is not of this world." What He meant was that unlike the world, His subjects don't engage in their self-aggrandizing ways which give rise to violence and the destruction of others. Otherwise, He would have armed His disciples and told them to fight the way empires do.

We belong to a kingdom where the goal is to build up the other before self. Where it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, in giving that we receive, and in dying that we’re born to eternal life. We establish that kingdom here on earth by following its heavenly ways.