13 Hours of Rain

Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, " Repent , for the kingdom of heaven is at hand ." Matthew 3:1-2 repent: Metanoeo (Greek). Repent with great regret accompanied by a true change of heart toward God. kingdom: Basileia (Greek). Royal dominion. Often signifies God's rule within us while we are on this earth. at hand: Eggizo (Greek). To bring near. One theme that has been resurfacing in my life is "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness." In an attempt to gain a deeper understanding of such a life focus, I am reading the book of Matthew and documenting the context of several references to the "kingdom of heaven". The first one I have come across is listed above, where John the Baptist is heralding the nearness of the heavenly kingdom. The act of repentance precedes God's rule within us. To repent goes beyond regret for one's actions. It is intimately coupled with a true change...

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matthew 13:44 There was a man who discovered something in a field one day. A shiny object that flashed in the sun. When he bent down to examine it, his heart nearly lodged itself in his throat. He jumped up and looked quickly around. Nobody had seen him. His hand began to tremble, and his breathing became short. He could not take the object, because it was not his to take, yet it was very, very valuable. But he had to have it, you see. No matter what else happened, he realized in that moment that he had to own that treasure... Now let me ask you a question... Does this man want this treasure?... Ahh, yes. If you want to walk into the kingdom, you also must have this kind of desire. Without such desire, the man never would have done what he did next... He covered the diamonds so that no one would find them, and ...