While teaching the disciples and the crowd about where to place their trust and to not worry about the typical things that culture wants us to worry about, Jesus shares a phrase I never had noticed before. Luke includes this in his gospel and he records Jesus telling everyone present: “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” (v. 32)
This statement is profound in my mind because it tells us that God the Father is happy to share His kingdom with each of us. While many people have gotten confused at what God wants us to do, say, act, and/or believe, all these things could be classified as worrying, and they are dealt with in this simple statement.
In these words, Jesus wants to draw our attention onto the truth that God is more interested in looking for ways we can be given His kingdom than reasons why we should be excluded. While Satan is happy to bring up reason after reason, sin after sin, and build an impossible to defend case against us being allowed into heaven, God decided to send Jesus to be our replacement. When faced with the impossible to defend charges against us, through what Jesus did on the cross, God simply gets to point Satan in the direction of Jesus, and Satan gets one more reminder of His failure.
While we have all sinned and don’t deserve heaven, Jesus came into the world because God is more interested in looking for ways we can be included in His kingdom than on finding reasons we should be excluded.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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