righteousness, peace and joy

Still pondering over the "what are you building" question and in preparation for next Tuesday's Ladies Night, I now post my thoughts....

So, if you are building the Kingdom of God - what does it look like? I asked myself this question and immediately thought of Romans 14:17. Looking at it in context really provoked my thought process further. This is verses 17-20.

"for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food."

So the Kingdom of God is not temporal things, like eating and drinking - satisfying the 'flesh-man'. We are often so divided for the sake of temporal things, things will not mean a thing in eternity. God's Kingdom is built on everlasting things - righteousness AND peace AND joy IN THE Holy Spirit.

Thinking about righteousness, peace and joy - these are things we do not have access to without the Holy Spirit. As believers, these are available to us and we are to live our lives portraying them. Doing this is not only acceptable to God but it is approved by men. The people around us see it, they notice it because it is different than what they are experiencing in this tough life.

I thought is was interesting that verses 19 and 20 talked about building up and not tearing down. Our existence, as believers, is to build the Kingdom of God, to restore people to our King!