Not Far from The Kingdom of God

 Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

 September 30, 2020

Not Far from The Kingdom of God

 Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

Mark 12:34b

Read: Mark 12: 28-34

Jesus bestowed a blessing on the teacher of religious law when he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” When you substitute the “Age to Come” for “Kingdom of God” the depth of the blessing becomes clearer. What so endeared the teacher to Jesus?

The teacher had connected the dots. He affirmed Jesus’ teaching to love God with all that we are and to love our neighbors as ourselves as the greatest commandments. Then the teacher drew the only appropriate conclusion from living by these ethical standards: “This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law” (verse 33b). The teacher is the first to grasp what Jesus has been pointing to throughout his ministry, especially in those times he was in the Temple. After his resurrection and with the imparting of the Holy Spirit, the followers of Jesus become the temple of God who lives in us. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Therefore, the time of sacrifices in the Temple is replaced with being empowered to live the law of love.

My Takeaway: Living in this pandemic has been a good time for me to see the priorities of my life. Has my life been marked by a complete love of God and neighbor, or by scrambling to find what is best for me?

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.