A picture is worth a thousand words...

...but sometimes that really isn't enough. I was looking at some pictures we have from a family trip to the Grand Canyon. They are amazing, but once you've seen the real Grand Canyon, a picture just can't do it justice. I can show people who have never been there my pictures and they say things like, "Isn't that pretty", or "I'd like to see that". But when I show the picture to someone who has actually been to the Grand Canyon they automatically look at me with their eyes wide open and say, "Isn't it amazing how big it really is. A picture could never do it justice." For those who have experienced it, the picture serves as a link to their experience. For those who have yet to visit it, the picture gives a tiny taste of what is actually there.

I'm learning that when Jesus described the Kingdom of God that something very similar as happening. So many times He said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like...". He was giving pictures to all of us. Pictures that could never contain the whole of the Kingdom, but pictures that would give us a tiny taste of what is actually there. The Kingdom and the way it functions can never be contained in an idea, the ideas only give us the ability to see a little part of what is actually going on there.

In the same way, when people begin to experience life in the Kingdom, they will never be content with mere pictures again. When you begin to describe it their eyes light up and they say, "Isn't it amazing how big it really is. A picture could never do it justice."