Meditation Thought: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'” (Mark 1:14-15)
Jesus “preached the gospel”: in other words, Jesus revealed the words of God for His people that His children would understand Him and have the life of the kingdom as soon as they understood.
Jesus was – and is – the interpreter of God’s directions for the living of the kingdom while still involved in the physical things. But it is not possible to understand even Jesus’ interpretation of God’s Word if a person has not repented from the commitment to the physical and animalistic dedication of self. Until one turns from the visible and the obvious in search of the invisible “things” of the Spirit, and the “things” which are hidden until they are sought, one cannot understand Jesus’ teachings.
It is the repentant heart searching for a new direction that finds the way. It does little good, however, to find the way if it is not followed!
We are not changed by stating confined in the same old place, thinking the same old thoughts, and doing the same old things. We are changed when we meet the challenge of moving on: of seeking new revelations, of desiring new experiences, and of finding new places.
The kingdom is not a place, or limited by time or even a state of mind. The kingdom is our will becoming so homogeneously blended with God’s will that His works are our works, His Word is our creed, and His Love expands our love til nothing remains in our life that is not an expression of love.
We may not succeed, as did Jesus, in living in the kingdom completely while in our human state – but in the process of trying to live out our belief in the possibility and desirability of doing so, we become “new creatures in Christ”‘ we are “transformed from glory to glory”, and we at least live in a new dimension, even if it is not quite the dimension of pure unadulterated kingdom.
Meditations of Marie's Heart 