Week 18 The Tale of Two Kingdoms   

I have always loved going to the beach and building sand castles. Every time I made one, I would make it more elaborate than the one before. Thankfully my identity was not in what I built, nor the sand from which it came. Because I knew sooner or later the wave would come, and the castle would be gone. 
    It was perfectly acceptable for me to be proud of that castle and enjoy its beauty. But it would not be acceptable for me to have a temper tantrum every time a structure was destroyed. 
   If I look past the kingdom of the world and see myself in God’s kingdom, the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of the eternal. My earthly judgment of situations, good or bad, suddenly have no weight, for I see only the intent of a good, good, Father. 
When I choose to see His kingdom on earth, I will always be standing safely on the rock when storms come.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is SEEN IS TEMPORARY, but what is UNSEEN IS ETERNAL.

What kingdom exists inside of you and around you at this very moment? One that is unseen with earthly eyes.

There are two kingdoms:
One flows with peace and power and love, and one is darkened by condemnation and judgment.
One is eternal but not seen with our eyes, and one is temporal and passes away, yet visible to our earthly eyes.
One aligns with God, and one aligns with our fleshly desires. 

Similarly, there are two selves for you to contend with:
The new self knows the father and abides in His realm even now, while the old self clings to this world of flesh and bone through relationships with everything else that is temporal.

Two kingdoms and two identities. In each case, Jesus’ teaching is clear: the flesh must be surrendered to see and experience the spirit. You cannot serve two masters. We look not at things that are seen, but at the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.