I am a Jesus pusher!!! Jesus ascribed limited boundaries for His view of the Kingdom of Heaven. The elements of which the Kingdom consists are few. This does not allow us to require additional elements He did not include; it does not allow us to eliminate or treat lightly elements He does include. The perimeters are strong! They are set forth in the Beatitudes. There are only two interacting ingredients forming the Kingdom. Man is present in his absolute helplessness; Jesus is present in His magnificent resource. There is no attempt to go beyond these two elements. It is in the surrendering and uniting of man and God that the Kingdom is formed. The prototype of this reality is Jesus! He is the beginning of the Kingdom; He is the first man to experience the fullness of the Spirit.
Flee from the danger of adding any ingredients to the mix. If we propose “meekness” is an essential element of the Kingdom, we are wrong. We are not the Kingdom because we are meek; we are meek because Jesus who has this quality sources us. Purity of heart is not a building block of the Kingdom. No one is pure in heart unless he is the Kingdom. The righteousness of Christ invades his life and purity is demonstrated. If you are a peacemaker you will be allowed to be the Kingdom. NO! You are embraced by the Prince of Peace and experience His sourcing in all your relationships. The qualities in the Beatitudes are not pieces that form the Kingdom. We must see all the Beatitudes in the light of the shaping of the Kingdom, the joining of man and God, helplessness and Divine resource! The Kingdom is merger with Jesus. I am a Jesus pusher!!!