| | I was driving to Reading when the passage popped into my head where Jesus tells people that if their hand is causing them to sin, they should cut it off, so they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The part that caught my attention/memory was, "better to enter the Kingdom of Heaven missing a hand/foot/eye..."
There are many ways to take this passage. Some people have gone so far as to oppose cremation because they say that if we are capable of entering the Kingdom of Heaven missing a hand, foot, eye, or anything for that matter, then burning the entire body could cause us to be unable to enter Heaven, since there would be nothing but ashes left to enter with!
What is Jesus saying here? How can a physical blemish exist in a spiritual realm?
And then it hit me:
The Kingdom of Heaven is here, and we are capable of entering it now! Every time we defend the defenseless, we are bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Every time we help the poor, we are bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. Every time we welcome the homeless, comfort the broken, associate with the outcasts, and visit the lonely, we are bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth.
Isn't that everything?
When the Bible says liars, cheaters, fornicators, etc. etc. etc., will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven, is God trying to tell us that our salvation only extends as far as those limits, or is He trying to tell us that His perfect way can't be followed to its fullest potential, His Kingdom can't be inhabited at maximum occupancy, His race can't be run at record speed when we fill our lives with sin?
And really, doesn't that make you want to change your life a lot more than the threat of hellfire and damnation? Have we become so selfish that we are more willing to repent at the threat of marring our own eternity than at the opportunity to improve someone else's existence and to ease their pain?
When you pray - and this is important - remember this line: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, ON EARTH, as it is in Heaven."
These are two ideas combined in order to conserve space in English, but if we were to write two complete sentences it would be as follows:
Thy kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
So stop whining about how life on Earth is nothing but suffering and how it will never be your home! God has blessed us, and given us the power to bless this world and make it our home.
So off with your shoes already! This is holy ground.
עמנואל– God is here.
–יואל
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| | Posted 10/11/2008 1:58 AM - 27 views - 2 comments
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