The evil queen would often ask the magic mirror, “Who’s the fairest of them all?” The mirror would respond, “Thou, O Queen, art the fairest in the land.” And she was, at least for a time, until the day Snow White came of age and became the fairest in the land. The queen’s vanity could not abide this shift and as a result sought to kill Snow White in order to reclaim her position.

Had this famous story kept on, we would find that someday Snow White herself would cease to be the fairest in the land and simply be replaced by someone else.

Such is the state of the world. It is a temporal world where that which shines today, soon fades tomorrow. It is a world where positions are temporary, beauty fades, health declines, and death eventually comes. The world itself as a whole is dying and will pass away eventually because it’s in a temporal state.

The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:17 )

Jesus, the life-bringer (John 10:10) taught and demonstrated that there is eternal life in God’s kingdom after death. The kingdom of God endures permanently in a state of peace and joy. And its joys aren’t fleeting like our temporal world.

God’s kingdom is also not powered by fleshly needs and wants.

Many fight fiercely to gain the fleeting desires of this world and the reflection of what is left, is that of contention, endless lust, greed, warfare, malice, and murder.

As James chapter 4:2-4 puts it clearly, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

And our passions (desires and wants) are what drives the temporal world. As a result, the world remains in a constant state of struggle, instability, and unrest.

But there is an eternal kingdom without struggle, where joy isn’t fleeting, beauty doesn’t fade, health doesn’t decline, where peace and love abide in endless abundance.

Yes, the kingdom of God. And God invites you today. God’s invitation to his kingdom is Jesus Christ.

Believe in him and live for the kingdom of God. To do otherwise is a fatal and wasteful gamble.