Thoughts for another day

July 21, 2009

Today's verse: Mt. 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

This is the crystallized Gospel Jesus gave us: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’ You may ask, is this the Gospel; and probably be shocked if I say, ‘Yes’; because for Christians all over, the Gospel is: Jesus came, He died and rose again. But that’s our life, our creed, our whole. Jesus introduced us to a new system of living called the ‘kingdom life’, a life driven and operated by God. That’s the Gospel we need to follow and preach.

At a synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus opened the scroll, landing on the book of Isaiah 61:1-2 and declared, ‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me…’ The essence of His statement meant full living; a life to be lived without any burden or worry, of peace and happiness and total trust in Him. Then and only then will we taste heaven on earth. Therefore, even in prayer, Jesus instructed us thus, ‘Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done…’ When the Kingdom comes, humans will live full lives, the kind of lives they’re supposed to live eternally.

How do we live the Gospel? Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount declares the essential traits needed to live the Kingdom life: love your enemies and pray for them, let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, give even beyond what you’re asked for, etc. Jesus took the theory of giving the other cheek to the one who slaps you on one, when He gave Himself up on the Cross thus heralding the coming of the Kingdom and opening the Gospel to the nations. The three chapters, viz 5, 6 & 7 in Mathew’s Gospel are essential reading and living I’d say in our Christian lives, though let me add, easier said than done. No matter how much we’d like to brush aside this, we have to abide by it if we want to enjoy heaven for only by being citizens of the Kingdom here, can we continue in eternal bliss in heaven.