"Kingdom of God" -- Coolhombres

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Subject: "Kingdom of God"

Author:
Yeager

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Date Posted: 10:00:23 03/22/02 Fri

I was reading Frizzell's response and it seemed to dawn on me what I thought regarding his thoughts on the "kingdom of God". It is true that Jesus used many examples, like Bill gave. My response then is that it would seem that this kingdom relates to an ATTITUDE.

The argument seems logical when we examine Chad's example of the rich man wanting to follow Jesus and says that he has obeyed the law since he was a boy. Jesus, responds that he must sell everything in order to inherit this kingdom and follow him. The man then proceeds to be disheartened and leave. I would like to argue then that he was not sad because he couldn't control his destiny, but rather because Jesus knew the one thing that this man was clinging to and not ready to give up to the Lord. The argument then could be that not everyone would struggle with giving up earthly things. Perhaps some would struggle giving up loved ones or appearance. The point I am trying to make is that it seems to stem around your attitude. If we truly believe in the kingdom of God and want it more than anything, we will be willing to give ANYTHING up for it! We would leave loved ones, our appearances, our wealth, and everything for it.

If this is true, the other parables seem to make sense. Like the one who sells everything to buy the field or the pearl. Logically then, it would seem that if we do have a total heart for God's "kingdom" that the fruits of the spirit will follow. Only because we are not pursuing our natural sinful nature, but rather doing something unnatural in pursuing the kingdom of God. I don't know if you all buy this, but you could probably look around and figure out that it would not be a popular idea for a person to give up all of their "treasures" in order to pursue this kingdom. Therefore, by pursuing this kind of a kingdom, we become more like Christ. And in turn, fulfill the destiny that Christ meant when the kingdom is also here on earth. Because by becoming more Christ-like, we show a glimpse of what the kingdom of heaven could and will look like.

yeager

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