This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
In Matthew 5:3 Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is not saying – it will be theirs. He is saying to those who are of a poor spirit, the kingdom of heaven is theirs. They have it and are enjoying it today before they leave this world.
The Word makes it seem like an individual can have the kingdom. But how is that so? What is that like? Can more than a single individual have this promise? Sometimes, we do not have the things the Lord promises because we have a believer’s unbelief.
In our humanity, we are limited. Yesterday, today and tomorrow are temporal things. They exist and then they do not exist. We live in time and space, and we are limited by time and space. And so, we wonder how it is that multiple people can have the same thing – in this case, the kingdom of heaven?
The things of God are not physical or temporal things like we are. They are Spiritual just as He is Spiritual. So, the kingdom of heaven is not a physical house in a physical place nor is it like owning the only gold coin of its kind. By the Spirit, we can own but not possess. We can enjoy but not keep.
The kingdom of heaven is the spirit of the joy we get when we live knowing we have a room in heaven. It is like knowing that by living under God’s authority, we actually have more authority than those who seek to authority. Nothing can take away your joy when you realize joy is something to make your life better but not something to possess.
Matthew 13:44 is one of several places where the Lord tells us what the kingdom of heaven is like. He says “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
Think of you being that treasure. Think of that field being all the people of the world. Think of the man being the Lord. He finds you from among all the things of the world. To make sure He can have you, He goes and buys everything around you. He is happy indeed.
But think of the joy this will be to you. Knowing that you have been purchased by the Lord from among all the worthless things of the world. In this way, the kingdom of heaven is really the attitudes by which we learn to live our lives in a world that wants us to waste our lives by having worldly attitudes.
Your attitude is a choice. In this instance, you find it is joyful to be poor in spirit unlike those around you. Being poor in spirit makes you mighty in spirit because God rewards those who choose to live poor no matter how much they have.
He chooses to reward those who live poor no matter how little they have. He chooses to reward those who live with lack and want and with fullness with the same attitude of gratefulness and respect and hope for others.
This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. And this is why it can be yours and anyone else who chooses to live with the attitude of gratefulness with the things we have and endure. It is a blessing for us when we learn to keep our emotions under control of our spirits. So we can choose an attitude that is ok with what life brings our way.
The kingdom of heaven is like this. You don’t have to thrive so that you can have a great attitude. You learn that a great attitude is the reason you can thrive no matter your circumstances. Now isn’t that heaven?
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