Chronicles of Keimathea I - Wise King, Good Kingdom
Over Easter weekend, I had the privilege and joy of teaching a D-Now (Discipleship-Now) event at our home church (Temple Baptist Church, Shawnee OK). We walked through various aspects of the problem of evil, working within the narrative framework of a Christian worldview: Creation - Fall - Redemption - Glorification. As part of the teaching materials, I told a series of stories about the Kingdom of Keimathea. I hope you enjoy them. Each installment is relatively short, and there will be five altogether.
Once upon a time, there was a
majestic, good, and wise King named Ma’alekei.
Ma’alekei founded the pure Kingdom of Keimathea, and began building a
country full of justice, mercy, abundance, joy, love, community, and
grace. Ma’alekei walked among his
subjects each and every day, talking with them and relating to them in the
streets, markets, parks, rivers, lakes, forests, mountains, fields, and
workshops. Ma’alekei dearly loved each
and every one of his subjects, and knew them each by name. He knew their gifts and abilities, their
family histories, their personal characteristics – everything about them. The citizens of Keimathea loved their King,
and were blessed by the Kingdom’s prosperity, freedom, and peace. Ma’alekei hosted lavish dinner parties for
his citizens, wherein the people ate and drank freely – Ma’alekei always ensuring
that his guests were fed before he himself would take any food. The palace guards screened every incoming
guest—only the pure in heart were permitted entry, but that was not difficult,
since every Keimathean was indeed pure of heart.
All of the riches of the Kingdom
were bestowed upon the citizens of Keimathea.
All had an abundance of all they needed and desired—food, clothing,
music, books, recreation—and the King freely shared his bounty with his people.
With one exception. The crown jewels of Keimathea, embedded in a
majestic three-tiered royal diadem, resided solely on the head of King
Ma’alekei. The King never explained why
the diadem was for his head alone—he did not need to, for the people
acknowledged that the majesty of the crown jewels could only appropriately be
placed upon the head of one who himself was majestic, good, and wise. The King’s crown belonged rightfully to the
King—all knew it, and were happy to abide by that one restriction upon the
otherwise unlimited access to the Kingdom’s riches and resources.
Keimatheans lived in freedom from
fear and want for many years, blissfully unaware of the dark forces that dwelt
beyond the boundaries of the Kingdom.
Ma’alekei had placed impenetrable protective shields around the Kingdom,
shielding his beloved citizens from untold horrors of potential invaders. All was well, all would be well, and all
manners of things was good.
