The Kingdom of God,
The Kingdom of Decision...
The banishment of self.

The inhabitants of the Kingdom of God are not the logical, historic heirs as presupposed by the Jews who also saw themselves as the exclusive partakers in the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of God was first offered to the Jews by Christ, but would later accommodate Gentiles, those Jews who accepted Jesus' teachings, and right up to the present, all people of all races and nations who accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and do his bidding - the coming together of the organism of God; the Creation united! The place Jesus talked about was foreign to all but a select few comprehending Jews, and because the majority of the old guard religious Jews did not understand what Jesus was talking about, they would not partake of it nor inhabit it.

The Kingdom of God, as described by Jesus, would be inhabited only by those who were totally obedient to the Will of God. There is no reward system involved with the Kingdom of God.  Instead, it is a system of belief, obedience and service. The Kingdom of God is not a repository for righteous souls; for that indicates something that is past. To the contrary, the Kingdom of God is the here and now, and participated in by those obedient to God; those who willingly give up their own 'self' and lovingly surrender to the only 'Self', that is, God Almighty's Will. The Kingdom of God, continually motivated by the Holy Spirit, is forever on the move, forever happening:  "The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

The Kingdom of God exists every moment a Christian makes a decision to act, or not to act, that pleases God. The Kingdom comes into being at that moment when the believer surrenders all notions of self over to God and then does the right thing. The 'right thing' concretely exists only when it manifests in real life. When a moral situation arises, the Christian is confronted with an Either/Or decision; either to do what is right as commanded by Christ, or not do it. The classic Scriptural example of this is the accounting of the Good Samaritan: "...But wanting to justify himself he (the lawyer who was engaged in a dialog with Jesus) asked Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?' And Jesus replied, 'A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.

"He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarri, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?' He said, 'The one who showed him mercy.' Jesus said to him, 'Go and do likewise.' " (Luke 10: 29 - 37).  Not only did Jesus' words define doing the right thing, but also answered the question, 'Who is my neighbor.' When the Samaritan took pity on the victim, and then followed through by caring for him, that was but one moment of millions of 'moments' to come when the Kingdom of God presented itself; and to this day and tomorrow presents itself to the world.

The Samaritan disowned any hesitations he may have had for himself by surrendering them to the Will of God.  This is what the Christian should understand, and what the Christian disciple must understand if he or she is to be a genuine disciple: When the moment of compassionate or moral decision is at hand, there must be no hesitation to act. Just do it!  The Kingdom of God cares not about the past and is not concerned with rewards and good works that are understood by many to be the entry tickets to the kingdom of heaven. The Roman Centurion clearly understood what was going on with Jesus and understood the Power invested in the Kingdom of God. For the disciple, the 'Kingdom of Decision' is always now because God is always now, and the interaction and forgiveness of sin between God and the human is always in the 'now'. God's 'now-ness' has never been more beautifully, or powerfully, expressed than in Exodus 3: 13 - 14: "But Moses said to God, 'If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?' God said to Moses, 'I AM THAT I AM.' " That is, I am the God who exists in the NOW. The decision for the Christian disciple to do God's Will exists in the 'now'.

The Kingdom of God demands of each disciple the right decision. 'What are you going to do right here and now?' That's the seminal question Jesus asks of each of his disciples. 'Are you going to look for a way out of doing what's right, are you going to look for a legal loophole that may be contained in the Law in order to evade what's expected of you? Or are you going to throw all of your trust onto God, believing that He through his Holy Spirit will guide you to do the right thing? What are you going to do in order to make the world a better place for humanity?' If you make the correct decision, you will be instrumental in spreading the Word and love of God in the world. You will be living up to your call to discipleship.

What qualifies one to become a 'citizen' in the Kingdom of God? Look again, above, at the dialog between Christ and Nicodemus: "...Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit." A person desiring to enter the Kingdom of God must, first, put to death their 'old man'. The 'old man' is the sinful taint of Adam - it is the sin of disobedience, the sin of supplanting the desires of God with the desires of one's self. It was Adam who caused the rift between his Creator and himself, thus destroying the first instance of the Kingdom of God. Adam disobeyed and until the coming of Jesus, humankind was damned to never regain the once told of and perfect companionship with God in the Garden of Eden.  Adam's Eden was God's Kingdom on earth. It was a place of perfection and intimacy that was once feared forever lost. Now, thanks to Jesus Christ our Redeemer, the Garden has been regained for all who believe and are willing to obey.

To enter the Kingdom of God, we have to be baptized and reborn of the Spirit. Out of dutiful obedience to God, we do without hesitation what our Captain and Master has told us to do. The renunciation of our sins, our accepting of Christ as our Redeemer and Lord, the cleansing act of baptism, and our rebirth in God's Holy Spirit does away with our 'old man' forever. Our egotistical self, our greedy, craving self dies along with Jesus on the Cross. Our Adam is gone, and instead replaced with Christ, who as the epitome of selfless obedience to his Father, has shown us all the right things to do:
Give God your 'self' and in so doing, take hold of God's Self - as a child clings to his loving Father's leg.