Memory Verse
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24 (NIV)
Reflection
What if entering the kingdom of God
is about where we spend eternity but also is about so much more? What if going
through the eye of a needle is also about what we experience here on earth? Christ came and changed everything in a radical, transformative manner. He
taught ideas about the first being last, the least being elevated to greatness,
and giving up everything you had in exchange for something greater. And these
teachings were not just about heaven, but also for our current lives on earth
since Christ desires His kingdom to be here and present right now.
However, we often struggle to
experience this much broader, more holistic idea of the kingdom because things
such as our material possessions, our inability to embrace upside down thinking
or our fear of releasing control to God prevent us from fitting through the eye
of a needle. The choice to follow Christ is perhaps equivalent to stepping through
the door into the kingdom. But when we embrace, maybe even crave, Christ's call
for radical transformation in how we give, how we serve, how we love, right
now, right here, today, we have the opportunity to run through the green
meadows of Christ's kingdom. And the reality is that by the standards of the
world that permeate our existence, this transformation of how we live is not
easy. In fact it very well can be difficult.
Questions to Consider
1. Can
you think of a time when you pursued Christ's transformative and radical teaching? What happened?
2. What
in your life prevents you from more regularly experiencing the kingdom of God
here on earth? Is it a
possession, a notion, or an ideal or some form of security? What will you do to
free yourself of this?
Action Steps for the Week
1. What is
something you can do this week that proclaims your citizenship in God’s kingdom
here and present right now?
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