The Kingdom of God is at hand.

I was just reading my friend Nicole's blog entry about Luke 21 on her blog "40 Days of Worship". As I was reading through the passage, I felt something the Holy Spirit was saying something a little different to me. As I read through the passage and tried to put myself in the shoes of the disciples and understand all that Jesus said, it seemed to unfold a little like this (paraphrase):

Jesus and his disciples were in the temple, and He invited them to see what was unseen. The chapter starts out with His praise of the poor widow. I could see Jesus sitting around in view of the collection box with all his disciples just aimlessly milling about. Jesus catches the eye of the widow, then excitedly waves over the twelve. "Hey, guys, you gotta see this! Look over there, who do you see?"
"Uh, that's Pharisee Bill. He own half the city."
"No, not him. Look! who's that?"
"Are you talking about that old lady? The one that dropped two measly coins into the collection?"
"YES! Isn't she great?"
"Jesus... what are you talking about? She just dropped in a couple of coins? How important can she be?"
"You are looking with your own eyes, but you don't see the Kingdom of God in her. She has given ALL she has for the kingdom of God. Don't be looking at appearances."

And just like the rest of us, the disciples didn't get it the first time. They kept right on going, talking about the external. They were dazzled by the impressive temple. It must have made them feel important to be right inside this majestic structure. Then Jesus breaks into their delusions of grandeur with this bomb: "Hey, guess what, guys. This place is going to be totally demolished."
"WHAT? Jesus, are you crazy? How do you know that??"
"You see ..." Jesus proceeds to lay out the history yet to be unfolded, "... and great miraculous signs from heaven..." Jesus can't keep secret all the things that will happen to his beloved band of brothers, "but not a hair of your head will perish!" He's brimming with the weight of the future that will come from the act of his cross, and he can't help but share it because it is so imminent. "Then everyone will see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and great glory. So when all these things begin to happen, stand and look up, for your salvation is near! ... when you see all these things, you can know that the Kingdom of God is near... my words will never disappear."

Jesus is still inviting his disciples (and by extension, us) to view the circumstances around us from an internal, heaven-based point of view. Through this whole passage, he juxtaposes what will happen in the world with the security of the kingdom of God that is near. One way people interpret "the kingdom of God is near" is to think Jesus is saying, "it will be coming soon" as in time. But I believe he is saying, "the kingdom of God is just beyond your fingertips. If you just change your point of view, you'll grab hold of it."

So, when he warns us about self-indulgence, drunkenness and the worries of life, Jesus is warning us not to slip into a view of life that does originates from our own earthly perspective. These are powerful influences, and seductive in nature. They dull our senses from what is more powerful. The Kingdom of God that Jesus brought on the cross is more powerful than these. Watch out! Don't analyze anything from a worldly perspective. Rather, view everything from the perspective of the cross. The cross has powerfully saved you and me from being buried alive under the pressures of life. The cross has given you and me access to power to overcome every situation.