In my now long life of 70 years, I think I have come to an understanding of what Jesus means when he says, “the Kingdom of God is among you.”  It is indeed in our midst.  But how can we know that?  I have learned to see it revealed in the light of the words of the Lord in the fruit of other believers. I find that those who find wisdom in the statutes and ordinances of the Lord and who stand firm in those truths bear abundant fruits that reveal an “aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty.”  Who are these people among us?  They are surely everywhere if we look for them.  The words in the reading of Wisdom are helpful to me in identifying these fruitful believers.  There are those among us who demonstrate a spirit of wisdom and truth that is “intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, and certain.”  This wisdom spirit is passed into holy souls from age to age and produces friends of God and prophets that we can surely find among us.   

Jesus clearly did not leave us here alone to wait for the Kingdom of God to come.  To be sure, there is more to come, but Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom of God is also already with us, in every age.   Faith calls me to demonstrate that certainty, to learn the Lord’s statutes and ordinances so that the revelation of the Lord’s words shed light through my life in ways that others can understand.  Maybe that is why I chose to be a teacher, but I don’t think we have to be teachers to demonstrate how the Lord’s ordinances and revelation of the Lord’s words help us live out our faith.  When we bear fruit in this way, we shed light on the truth of the Lord’s presence in our lives for others to see. This is how we can bear abundant fruits of our faith and can perpetuate the word of the Lord for the next age.  Living in the Kingdom that is already with and within us is how we can best serve and praise God.