I think I get it...

I think I get it now.  

What is the kingdom of heaven like?

Maybe it's like a marriage, but not just any marriage. One where each person learns to truly put the other above themselves, not just find a mutually beneficial arrangement.  An impossible love, because us humans are fundamentally self-absorbed.  Can you love your spouse like that?  How would you feel if she loved you like that?

Maybe it’s like a revolution of kindness.  Imagine the revolution if we actually lived "others first". What kind of upheaval would occur?  How would our families, our governments, our churches, our religions, transform if people really lived like that?

It’s so impossible it requires help from above. Jesus led the revolution against self-obsession. He changed the playing field by leaving the Holy Spirit with us. He taught us to love God first, and others as ourselves.  He taught that his vision of the kingdom was all about the "others" - those prisoners that need to be freed, those poor that need good news. It was not about religion that makes us feel better about ourselves. It was about the true life that would result from putting others first.

What is the kingdom of heaven like?  It's what happens when people give up self-obsession and self-fulfillment, and find the joy in loving others.

God loves us like that!  He wants us to follow him. He wants to transform the world one life at a time.  What if we treated people the way that God treats us?  Give each other freedom, bring each other good news, show each other grace?  That would be the kingdom of heaven, right here on Earth.

by Brad Duncan
Dedicated to my wife Jenny. Happy 15 years honey! Luvu!