Preparing for God’s Foreign Kingdom

Have you ever traveled to a foreign country? If you have, then you know the journey doesn’t start when the plane takes off; it starts with preparation. You have to get your passport ready, maybe get a few vaccines depending on where you’re headed. You exchange your money, adjust your mindset, and maybe even learn a few words of the language. There’s a lot to get ready before your feet ever touch foreign soil.

Now, I’m not exactly what you’d call a world traveler. I’ve been to two countries: Canada and Nicaragua. Canada hardly feels foreign. As long as you tack an “eh” onto the end of a sentence, you can get by just fine. But Nicaragua? That’s a whole different story. That’s a place where you feel like you’re in another world the second you step off the plane.

The Mental Checklist Before Stepping Out

When my friend Ken and I went to Nicaragua, we made sure we had everything in order. Our passports were current. I went to a travel clinic and got the vaccines they recommended. They handed me a list of things to avoid: don’t drink the water, be careful about food, watch out for certain behaviors. It was like prepping my brain for an entirely different way of life.

We flew out of Miami International Airport, which felt more like a treadmill than an airport, and then landed in a much smaller airport in Nicaragua. The moment we arrived, everything felt unfamiliar. It was clear; I wasn’t home anymore.

Customs didn’t go smoothly. They hit me with a string of questions: “Why are you here?” “What’s the address of your hotel?” I wasn’t staying at a hotel; I was staying at a church. “What’s the phone number of the person you’re staying with?” I didn’t have it. Ken did. And I was trying to explain all of this—in Spanish. And let’s just say my Spanish is “un poquito.” Everything about the experience screamed, “You’re not from here.”

Life in a Different World

We had to get the local currency, the Córdoba. We had to understand exchange rates. What’s a normal tip? What’s fair for a cab ride? I didn’t want to do the math every time. Thankfully, Ken covered most of our expenses. Gracias, Ken.

Transportation was another adjustment. One day we took a photo-op ride in a small cart, but most of the time, I rode in the back of a pickup truck. That’s not exactly how people get around where I’m from.

Even the way people lived was different: simple, modest, yet incredibly welcoming. I saw pet pigs in front yards. The homes, the customs, the political environment, even the pets—it was all different.

Our first night in Momotombo, the town where we stayed, a giant speaker blasted political propaganda for two hours in the early morning darkness. I took a picture just to remember which direction the noise was coming from. It was unlike anything I’d experienced back home. Every part of the trip required adjustment—how I thought, how I spoke, how I navigated my day.

And that’s exactly the kind of mental shift Jesus calls us to when He introduces His Kingdom.

God’s Kingdom is a Foreign Land

This may come as news, but the sermon on the mount isn’t really a sermon. The Sermon on the Mount isn’t just a list of good moral teachings. It’s not a collection of wise sayings like Proverbs. It’s something far more radical.

It’s Jesus saying, “The Kingdom of God is here.” It is the moment when Jesus draws the boundary lines of what is his kingdom and what isn’t. He is stating clearly from the start these are the kind of things we are going to do in my Kingdom and are not going to do in my kingdom! The culture, the values, the relationships, the priorities: they’re all foreign to the way we naturally live. And this Kingdom is so unlike the world around us that even those of us who follow Jesus can find it disorienting.

Have we forgotten how foreign the sermon on the mount really is?

Take His words in Matthew 5:28–29, for example:

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away.”

No, Jesus isn’t calling us to literally harm ourselves. He’s using exaggeration to make a serious point: in His Kingdom, we don’t just deal with sinful behavior; we deal with the desires and motives that lead to it. That stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding culture, even within many churches.

Then there’s Matthew 5:39–40:

“Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”

That hits a nerve. I’ve heard Christian teenagers say flat out, “If someone hits me, I’m hitting them back.” And honestly, a lot of adults feel the same way. But Jesus calls us to respond to offense not with retaliation, but with humility and peace. Again, this feels foreign.

And what about money? Jesus says in Matthew 6:19: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…”

That’s not what we’re taught here. In the United States, the message is to save, invest, build wealth, secure your future. But Jesus says, “Don’t chase what fades. My Kingdom isn’t about stockpiling treasures.” His teachings run so contrary to the way we naturally think that even lifelong believers can struggle to take them in.

But that’s exactly the point. The Kingdom of God isn’t a better version of your current life. It’s a completely new way to live.

Between Announcement and Fulfillment

Right now, we live in the space between the announcement of God’s Kingdom and its full arrival. The Kingdom was inaugurated 2,000 years ago when Jesus stepped onto that hillside and began to teach. But its complete fulfillment is still to come. We live in the tension between the “already” and the “not yet.” And in that tension, we have to make a choice.

Will you reshape your life around the values of this foreign Kingdom, or will you continue clinging to the world you have always known?

Like preparing for a trip to a foreign country, entering the Kingdom of God takes preparation. It requires a shift in how we think, speak, and act. Everything about our lifestyle must adapt to the culture of Heaven.

Why Did the Disciples Drop Everything?

If you’ve ever read the story of the disciples and found yourself puzzled by how quickly they followed Jesus, you’re not alone. He walks by, says, “Follow Me,” and they just drop everything and go.

Immediately. No hesitation. No questions.

They walk away from their jobs, their routines, even their families. And let’s be honest—it’s hard to relate. That’s not how most of us make decisions. So why did they do it?

Matthew 4:18–22 tells us that Jesus saw Peter and Andrew fishing and said:

“Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”

And just like that, “at once they left their nets and followed him.” Then He saw James and John, working with their father, and the Bible says:

“Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

It feels abrupt. Too abrupt. How does anyone make a life-altering decision that quickly?

But this isn’t just a historical curiosity; it’s a deeply personal and spiritual question. Because if Jesus called you right now to walk away from your career, your comfort, your plans, would you follow? Could you?

A lot of us would probably say, “It depends.” And that reveals something. The disciples’ immediate obedience doesn’t just inspire us. It exposes us. It forces us to confront our own level of attachment to our nets, our boats, our familiar lives. Why did they leave everything so quickly to follow Jesus?

Were Peter, Andrew, James, and John Just Poor and Desperate?

Some people try to explain the disciples’ response by assuming their lives were so miserable that they jumped at any opportunity. Maybe they were uneducated, broke, stuck—and Jesus seemed like a ticket out.

But that view doesn’t hold up.

These were not aimless men. They were tradesmen and business owners. Peter and Andrew had their own boats and expensive nets. Trammel nets used in Galilean fishing weren’t cheap. The boats weren’t either. Mark 1:20 even tells us that James and John worked with hired men, which points to a family business large enough to employ others.

They had something to lose. They had financial stability, family responsibilities, and careers. Walking away wasn’t an act of desperation—it was a choice. A costly one.

Was It Just the Miracle?

Others point to Luke’s account in Luke 5:1–11. In that version, Jesus tells Peter to cast his nets again, and they haul in such a massive catch that the nets begin to break. It’s a miraculous moment. Maybe the awe and adrenaline carried them into a quick decision.

But miracles alone don’t sustain long-term obedience. Emotions fade. Awe wears off. And remember, they didn’t just follow Jesus for a weekend. They followed Him through beatings, persecution, hunger, and even martyrdom. That kind of loyalty isn’t based on one dramatic moment.

It’s based on something deeper.

Were They Just Trying to “Get Saved”?

Some might think they were just looking for eternal life. Maybe they thought Jesus could get them into heaven. But that’s not what Jesus was offering—at least not in the way we usually think about it.

In Matthew 4:17, right before He calls them, Jesus says:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This isn’t about escaping to heaven when you die. This is about something present and active—right here, right now. Jesus wasn’t offering a ticket out. He was offering a new way to live, under the rule and reign of God. He was inviting them into a different kind of kingdom.

Did They Know Jesus Before This?

This wasn’t their first encounter with Jesus. John 1:35–42 tells us that Andrew, who would become one of the Twelve, was initially a disciple of John the Baptist. One day, John saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” Andrew followed Jesus, then brought his brother Simon (Peter), saying, “We have found the Messiah.”

So by the time Jesus calls them in Matthew 4, they weren’t strangers. They had seen enough to know He was no ordinary man. They had glimpsed His authority, His compassion, His truth. In John 2 it would be reasonable to think that some Peter, Andrew, James and John were there at the wedding, even before they were called in Matthew 4. That moment on the shoreline wasn’t the beginning of curiosity—it was the turning point into full commitment.

Why They Really Followed

So let’s come back to the main question: Why did they drop everything?

The most honest and beautiful answer comes from Peter himself. In John 6:68, after Jesus gives a difficult teaching and many of His followers walk away, He turns to the Twelve and asks,

“You do not want to leave too, do you?”

Peter answers: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

That’s it. That’s the reason.

They didn’t follow Jesus because they were poor.

They didn’t follow Him because of a miracle.

They didn’t follow because they were promised heaven one day.

They followed because Jesus was more real than anything they had ever seen. Because His words had a kind of life in them that nothing else did. Because in Him, they found the presence of God in a way that pierced through the noise, cut through the fog, and settled deep in their souls. They followed because He was the Light; and once you see the Light, you can’t unsee it. This is what should lead our discipleship too. Not a promise of eternity, not a hopeful miracle, not because we have nothing better to do, but because Jesus is compelling enough to draw us to Him.

Seeing Through the Shadowlands

In The Last Battle, the final book in C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, there’s a moment where Aslan tells the characters that their time in Narnia is over, and that the world they’ve known was only a shadow of the real one to come. He calls it the “Shadowlands.”

It’s a poetic but deeply theological idea. Everything we see and experience here: every joy, every success, every longing, is just a dim outline of something far more real and lasting. A shadow hints at shape and form, but it doesn’t have substance. It flickers and fades depending on the light.

In the same way, the kingdoms of this world, the values, pleasures, and pursuits we often chase—are just shadows. They are copies of something eternal, something better.

When we’re living in the Shadowlands, we might think we’re chasing meaning, purpose, or wholeness. But what we’re really chasing is a dim reflection of what Jesus offers in full.

And then Jesus walks into the scene.

He is not a shadow. He’s not a reflection. He is the substance, the clarity, the Light. When Peter said, “Where else would we go? You have the words of life,” he wasn’t being poetic. He was stating a fact. He had glimpsed something real—and once you see that, the shadows just don’t hold the same appeal.

You can’t go back to pretending that the temporary is enough.

When You Really See Jesus

When you truly see Jesus for who He is, everything else begins to look flimsy. Even the good things—career goals, relationships, status, security—they all start to feel a little hollow. Not because they’re bad, but because they were never meant to be the main thing.

Jesus is the main thing.

And when that reality hits you, the only response that makes sense is the one the disciples gave: drop your net. Leave your boat. Step out of the shadows. Follow the Light.

The Shadowlands Aren’t Enough

The Shadowlands aren’t inherently evil. Many of them are beautiful, good gifts, family, work, success, adventure. But they were never meant to be our home. They’re supposed to point us to something greater. They are glimpses of glory, not glory itself.

But you can’t live in the shadows forever and still claim to follow the Light.

At some point, you have to decide: Am I staying in the boat, or am I following Him?

Will You Step Out of the Shadows?

So now we come to the decision. We’ve walked through the disciples’ story. We’ve seen the contrast between the Kingdom of God and the world we’re used to. We’ve felt the tension.

And now, the invitation Jesus gave to Peter and Andrew, to James and John, comes to us:

“Follow Me.”

Not admire Me.

Not quote Me.

Not fit Me into your already full life.

Follow Me.

And that means dropping your net. It means leaving behind the safety of your boat. It means choosing the Kingdom of God over the kingdom of self. It means believing that what Jesus offers is more real and more lasting than anything this world can give you.

The Tension We All Feel

This is where the story gets uncomfortably personal. Because we feel that tension too. We read about the disciples and wonder, “Would I have followed? Would I have dropped everything?”

And if we’re honest, many of us don’t know. We want to say yes, but we also love our nets. We’ve grown comfortable in our boats. We’ve built lives that make sense, that feel secure.

And so the tension lives inside us.

We want Jesus, but we don’t want to give up control. We want the Kingdom, but we’re not sure we want to leave behind our version of home.

What do we do with that?

We do what the disciples did before they dropped their nets.

We look at Jesus.

We sit with Him long enough that His words start to take root. We listen to His voice. We let His truth work its way through the noise and confusion. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us really see Him; not as a religious idea or moral teacher, but as the living Son of God, full of grace and truth.

We let the Light of His Kingdom illuminate our shadowed hearts.

And in that space, the tension doesn’t disappear, but the decision becomes clearer.

To stay in the boat is to stay in the shadow.

To follow Him is to step into the Light.

So the question isn’t just how the disciples followed. The question is this:

Have you seen Jesus clearly enough to follow Him too?

Because when you truly see Him…

You will.

What God Is Asking of You Now

The Kingdom of Heaven isn’t a vague, distant idea—it’s here, and it’s near. Jesus isn’t calling you to agree with Him or admire Him. He’s calling you to follow Him. That means preparing your heart for a foreign Kingdom. It means unlearning the patterns of this world. It means choosing faith over fear, trust over control, and eternal purpose over temporary comfort.

What “net” are you still holding onto?

What is God asking you to drop?

What’s keeping you in the boat when Jesus is calling you to shore?

You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be fearless. You just have to look at Jesus. See Him clearly. Hear His voice.

And when you do, take the step. Trust the King. Follow the Light.

Because the Kingdom is here.

And it’s worth everything.