Seeing Grace

The call of Jesus to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near and at hand is a call to change your mind about the Kingdom. He was not addressing sin in that statement. He was addressing the wrong thinking that the Kingdom of Heaven was out of reach of us sinners and way into the future anyway. Jesus came with the most radical announcement ever! He was saying, no, the Kingdom is not out of your reach, even if you are a prostitute, and no, it is not just some promise for the future. The Kingdom of Heaven is within any sinners reach and it is now! Change your mind about this new reality that is coming to earth! That is here now on earth in the Spirit because of what Jesus accomplished! Change your mind about everything you thought you knew about God and righteousness! God is bringing His own righteousness to you as a gift. A gift. God is creating again! God is doing something so new that He spoke through the prophets and said, “Consider not the things of old! For, behold, I do a new thing!”

– James Barron