Whose Kingdom?

Disney's animated fairy tales are my favorite! =) I know that they are not quite consistent with the old stories, but I LOVE "happily ever after's"! Yesterday I was thinking of Beauty and the Beast. I actually had a song on the brain from it.

"Gosh, it disturbs me to see you Gaston,
Looking so down in the dumps.
Every guy here'd love to be you Gaston,
Even when taking your lumps.
There's no man in town as admired as you.
You're everyone's favorite guy.
Everyone's awed and inspired by you,
And it's not very hard to see why."

And I was thinking about my dear sister's admonition a couple weeks ago to not build my own "kingdom". The Lord has just been showing me HOW OFTEN I do things with the-- formerly-- hidden (to me) motive of building my own kingdom. Trying to get people to like me, and think well of me. If you know me well, you know that I am a mess. I've got a long list of problems and sins, and it would probably be longer, except that I can't stand to think that honestly about how bad I really am. =P

The good news is that God is AWESOME! He is able to use my flawed motives & efforts. He knows me in and out, and up and down, and I have His favor! And He is gracious. He shows me my sin a little at a time so that I'm not completely overwhelmed by my own wretchedness. And He is gently changing me more into the image of my Savior. I've said this before, and it will be true until I die-- I'm a work in progress!

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 

These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, "Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Matthew 10:5-7
 
And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 12:22-34