“Well-begun is half done.” It’s very interesting to go to a construction site, especially when huge skyscrapers are being built. There’s a timelapse video on YouTube showing the Empire State Building and the Twin Towers in New York City being built. It takes time. Each time you revisit, you’ll see a little more of the infrastructure. You can see what’s being built, and what’s being added, piece by piece.
As is true with construction of just about anything, much time is required. However, if the construction is material or physical, you can see what’s being done – you see the progress and changes. The Kingdom of God, however – it’s a spiritual kingdom within the hearts of men – and because of that, we can’t always see with our eyes what God is doing in the hearts of men and how His Word is changing their lives.
The changes are not always apparent in the physical. When Christ comes back, during the Second Coming, He will return in the sky, and people will think, “Where’s His Kingdom?” Then, all of a sudden, all these people will come out of “nowhere” and it’ll be evident that they belong to Him and they are a part of His Kingdom.
This is because Jesus works in the hearts of men and creates change from the inside out, where it isn’t visible to us. Salvation takes place on the inside, and people receive Christ and his power as a result of the internal change of heart. In Matthew 12:19, the verse says, “He shall not strive, nor cry; Neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.”
Jesus quietly went about His ministry of changing hearts, sharing the love of God and worked on people’s hearts from the inside out, one heart at a time. That’s how we’re going to do so with Jesus, too – one heart at a time. We’ll find that a lot of the major changes and revolutions that happened over the period of history was through the changes from individuals one heart at a time. Even in the Gospels we see that with the woman at the well, with Paul, with many, many individuals. God worked, reached down, touched their heart, and changed their heart, and then they helped to change their part of the world.
Luke 17:20-21 says, “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Many times, we don’t have a lot of obvious, “showy” results or a lot of so-called ‘fruits’ of our labors. But, as we continue to reach hearts one by one with God’s love, we will see the Kingdom of God rise up, as a result of all of our labors and letting the Holy Spirit work through us to build the Kingdom of God, one heart at a time.
Lay the brick of your heart and be part of the Kingdom today.