“Welcome To The Kingdom Of God/Heaven!”

“Welcome To The Kingdom Of God/Heaven!”(Mk.12:28-34).
Today we round up the week’s teaching which focused on love. The summary of it being that the only way to show that we love God with the entirety of our being is through “Love your neighbour as yourself.” To love God with your whole being and to love your neighbour as yourself “is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
Whoever knows and practices these first and second important commandments is “not far from the kingdom of God.” Unfortunately, one may not be far from a destination, but may linger around for long and still miss arriving at that destination on time; ir may not arrive at all.
Early Graasfield converts expressed their longing for Jerusalem, that fine country where it was difficult to enter. By this they understood Jerusalem to be a heavenly city – by extension, the kingdom of God.
But the kingdom of God/Heaven is not a geaographical location with fixed boundaries. The Church as the visible presence of Christ on earth is not fully the kingdom of God.
There are people still in the world and there are people in the church who are in the kingdom of God. In the same way, there are people in both the world and the church who are either not far from the kingdom of God or are drifting further away from the kingom of God.
To put it mathematically, the kingdom of God is (A intersection B) where set A is the world and set B is the church.
According to the Lord Jesus Christ “the kingdom of God is the reign of God that he brings about through Jesus Christ. It is the establishment of God’s rule in the hearts and lives of his people, overcoming all the forces of evil, removing from the world all the consequences of sin – including death which diminishes life – and creating a new order of righteousness and peace.
Those who belong to the kingdom are those the Lord say are in the world but do not belong to the world.
Whoever loves in word is not far from the kingdom of God, but when love is in action, then the one is of the kingdom. For since love covers a multitude of sins, love of God with one’s whole being and loving one’s neighbour as self eradicates all evil actions towards God and other persons.
Therefore my friend, let us make our entry into the kingdom of God as we allow love to lead by walking the talk – especially of love!
Weekend prayer: Holy Spirit help me to know and do the two most important commandments. Amen!
Have a blessed weekend! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.