Then, something happened that would change the course of American history.
What he did next was something that would mark the history of the world.
That one shot changed the rules – forever.
My friends and I laughed last night as we heard those lines over and over again. We were watching a fascinating series a friend loaned to us entitled “America: The Story of Us” (History Channel). Although the script writers may have used the “changing history forever” line a little redundantly, they got their point across. The American story is truly noteworthy.
Because of the historical revisionism that’s happened around the story of Plymouth Rock, I was surprised and pleased to hear a quote they included from one of the pilgrims that arrived on the Mayflower. “We seek the expansion of the Kingdom of God…”
Sure, they were looking for religious freedom. They were pursuing lives that weren’t to be constrained by a monarchy. But could it be true? Could they have truly been focused on the advancement and expansion of the Highest Kingdom?
As the New World began to grow and gain its independence from Britain, the move west happened quickly. The Americans’ “frontier spirit” drove them on. It was a desire to discover, to exercise independence, and ultimately to build a better life for themselves and future for their children.
But the story isn’t all inspirational. History is stained with the blood of those killed for gold, killed for land, killed for this advancement of the strongest. The Westward Expansion was a very different idea than the Kingdom Expansion.
There is one bottom line difference between the mentality of the Kingdom and the mentality of what seems to be the majority of the pioneers: Motive.
Both are frontier movements. Both require great sacrifice. But one was driven by the expansion of an temporary “kingdom,” and the other for the expansion of a kingdom that holds value for all of eternity.
I am grateful for my heritage as an American. I’m grateful for those who were willing to push the frontier so that I can freely return to my beautiful home in Minnesota. But I never want to get so focused on this earthly pursuit that I forget about the one pursuit that lasts: the expansion of the Kingdom of God.
This is the first post in a series on the topic of “Kingdom.”