I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord

By Dennis R. Smith

What a beautiful old hymn we sing by the same title of this article.  When it is sung with the “spirit and the understanding” (1^st  Cor. 14:15),  it truly fulfills the words of the Apostle Paul when he said, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16) .   Another song  on the subject of love suggests that we love each other, “with the love of the Lord.”  Consider this: If we love each other as mentioned,  then we must also love the church which is the kingdom of our Lord.  Without people who make up God’s kingdom on earth, there would be no visible witness of the kingdom at all.  The other side of that coin is this:  Since God’s kingdom is spiritual and the citizens of his kingdom must “worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24), we must be sure that our love for the kingdom is not isolated to some physical building even though it may be our located place of worship.  God’s kingdom is truly “the house of his  abode,” meaning the spiritual house of the saved (Eph. 5:23,  Acts 2:47).  The lesson to be learned here is that we love the spiritual house of his abode with the same love of the Lord  as we reflect on the price paid for it by God’s Son!