I am sitting here on my veranda outside of my hotel in Kisumu, Kenya. Even though the context around me has changed, the truth within remains the same. Being in Africa, especially rural Africa, is literally like being in a different world and can be shocking if you’re not used to it. It reminds me that there is a different world for believers that is inside of us and it is a different reality that never changes no matter how much things around us change, whether we are at home or traveling around the world in third world countries.
You see, the kingdom of God is within us and every kingdom has a king that reigns. As long as Christ is reigning in our hearts, we can know the peace that comes from His sovereign rule in our inner man no matter what is going on around us.
I’m reminded of these two verses from Romans 6: 10–11, “The death that he died to sin once, but the life that he lives he lives to God. Even so, consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ.” Because you are in Christ, you are new creation which flows out of your Union with Him. Now, you, too, are able to live for God in God’s way because Christ, who is now living to God, is living in you and wants to live His life by and through you. That is the reality, whether you dealing with pressures at home or are in a foreign third world country.
Christ who is our life never changes in there. Your opportunity to draw from His life with you has nothing to do with what’s going on around you. As a matter fact, all the changes, no matter how surprising they may be, are simply reminders that there is one thing that never changes and that is Christ; Christ with His unlimited ability, alive in you, living to God.
Below: Cattle Project Meto, Kenya August 19, 2017
