kingdom living.
I have such a love/hate relationship with the Sermon on the Mount.
I love the vision for the kingdom of God. I love how everything is flipped over upside down and completely opposite of what you'd expect from God's economy. I love that if we as followers of Jesus take this seriously, that outsider will truly know that Jesus is the real deal and his kingdom is about life everlasting, both now and forever.
I hate what this requires. OK, I don't exactly hate this. But the responsibility makes me exhausted just reading it; seriously, have you read the sermon on the mount recently? Living as the a member of the kingdom of God is difficult. I mean, it's about what's in your heart?! I know my heart, and most of the time I'm thinking that it's not looking too much like the Kingdom of God.
But I guess when it comes down to it. Living as a citizen in the kingdom of God must be about the heart, the inside/out living that really demonstrates to a hurting world that there is an answer to their pain. For it is in our heart of hearts as followers of Christ, that we begin to understand peace that passes understanding. We begin to look after the poor and oppressed because according to the beatitudes "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We begin to really love for after all, we were loved first....
I want to be like Jesus; man, do I have a lot of work to do!
I love the vision for the kingdom of God. I love how everything is flipped over upside down and completely opposite of what you'd expect from God's economy. I love that if we as followers of Jesus take this seriously, that outsider will truly know that Jesus is the real deal and his kingdom is about life everlasting, both now and forever.
I hate what this requires. OK, I don't exactly hate this. But the responsibility makes me exhausted just reading it; seriously, have you read the sermon on the mount recently? Living as the a member of the kingdom of God is difficult. I mean, it's about what's in your heart?! I know my heart, and most of the time I'm thinking that it's not looking too much like the Kingdom of God.
But I guess when it comes down to it. Living as a citizen in the kingdom of God must be about the heart, the inside/out living that really demonstrates to a hurting world that there is an answer to their pain. For it is in our heart of hearts as followers of Christ, that we begin to understand peace that passes understanding. We begin to look after the poor and oppressed because according to the beatitudes "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." We begin to really love for after all, we were loved first....
I want to be like Jesus; man, do I have a lot of work to do!
