by Anna Haiar
Living Between Two Kingdoms
You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.
“For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
Hebrews 13:14 English Standard Version
On a cold day, an empty chair has a way of drawing the eye. It suggests absence—someone who was expected but never arrived, or perhaps someone who left not long ago. The chair sits ready, positioned for rest or conversation, yet untouched. In winter’s chill, that emptiness feels sharper. No warmth lingers. No presence fills the space.
The Christian life often feels like that chair.
We live in two kingdoms at once: the earthly kingdom we can see, touch, schedule, and manage—and the Kingdom of God, which is just as real, yet not always as visible. The world around us is loud and demanding. It asks for our allegiance through work, politics, responsibilities, fears, and ambitions. It insists that what we can measure and control is what matters most.
And yet, Christ tells us otherwise. “My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus says before Pilate in John 18:36. He does not deny the existence of earthly authority or earthly life. Instead, He reframes it. The Kingdom of God is not absent, but it often looks, to human eyes, like an empty chair. God’s Kingdom does not always announce itself with power or spectacle. It comes quietly in Word and Sacrament, in repentance and forgiveness, in love that does not demand recognition. It is present even when it feels unseen, even when the chair looks empty and cold.
That tension is the daily experience of believers. We work, raise families, obey laws, and participate in the structures of this world. These are good and necessary things. But we do not place our ultimate hope in them. The earthly kingdom can build chairs, but it cannot fill them with lasting peace. The empty chair reminds us to ask: Who is meant to sit here?
When Christ seems absent, He is often nearer than we realize—hidden, not gone. His Kingdom does not advance by force or visibility, but by faith. And faith trusts that the chair is not truly empty, even on the coldest days.
“For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.”
Hebrews 13:14 English Standard Version
Until that day, we live between kingdoms—hands busy in the world, hearts anchored elsewhere—waiting for the King who will one day take His seat in full view, and make all things new again.
Copyright Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
