Living From The Right Kingdom
When Abundance Is Present But Anxiety Still Speaks
In Mark 8:14–21, the disciples are in a boat with Jesus, worried because they have only one loaf of bread. What makes the moment striking is what happened just before it.
Jesus had just fed more than four thousand people with a few loaves.
Leftovers were gathered.
Abundance was undeniable.
And yet, in the boat, scarcity still framed their thinking.
Jesus doesn’t shame them.
He asks a question.
“Do you still not see or understand?”
Not a rebuke.
An invitation to wake up.
What Activates You Reveals What’s Working in You
Jesus warns them about leaven—not because leaven is bad, but because it always works its way through whatever environment it’s placed in.
Pressure does the same.
Problems don’t create what’s inside us.
They reveal it.
When something goes wrong, our response quietly tells us which kingdom has been shaping our thinking—fear or trust, scarcity or abundance, control or love.
Jesus is teaching His disciples to recognize what kind of leaven is active when heat is applied.
Two Kingdoms That Shape Fear
Jesus names two leavens to avoid.
The leaven of the Pharisees—religion shaped by the fear of people, where identity is sustained by being right and problems are solved through judgment.
And the leaven of Herod—power shaped by the fear of people, where image must be protected and problems are managed through control, accusation, or distance.
Both are fueled by the same root:
the fear of man.
And the fear of man always creates an appetite for approval.
Any identity we receive from people
must be sustained by people.
The Leaven of the Kingdom
Jesus offers a different leaven.
The Kingdom of God works quietly and internally.
When pressure rises, Kingdom leaven produces faith, not panic.
Jesus responds to problems without anxiety about His image, without judgment, without control.
He responds with love and trust in the Father.
He invites His disciples to remember—not just the miracle, but the source.
An Invitation to See Again
When God brings things to the surface, it is never to humiliate.
It is to refine.
Jesus is not asking, “Why don’t you have enough?”
He’s asking, “Will you learn to live from abundance even when the problem is loud?”
This is how the Kingdom grows—
one moment of recognition at a time.
Reflection
What tends to surface in you when pressure rises—fear, judgment, control, or trust?
Which “leaven” seems most active in your responses lately?
What might change if Kingdom abundance framed the problem instead of scarcity?
Prayer