The Kingdom of love!

by Troy Thackwray


Praise God for systems, methods, agendas, formulae and routines etc etc etc...they do tend to make certain events run a lot smoother.

But God's love is no respector of man-made rules and stipulations.

Where religion (with its rigorous conditions) "established" a repelling "magnetic force" between God and sinner, Jesus came and revealed the true nature of His love towards us by breaking through these religious "boundaries" and RECEIVING the SINNER unconditionally - in the vileness of his raw sinful state!

It's sadly ironic how the Pharisees (unknowingly) tried to limit Christ Himself with the very law He was the author of - hahaha!

Jesus never broke His law (It wasn't even an effort for Him to succeed in this regard. Although it cost Him everything, He merely did what He knew His Father telling Him to do). It just so happened that by walking in Holy Spirit and being compelled by His love, that He fulfilled its righteous requirements once for all.

Even John the baptizer brought clarity to the LOVING nature of the Kingdom of God.
He strongly addressed the crowd regarding their selfish focus on religious routines and "conscious-easing" formulae, all the while oblivious to the Father's heart.
They asked John what they ought to do, and he explains how, if they have a spare tunic, to give it to one in need.

Now the "modern pharisee" will take this God-breathed scripture of life and "kill" people with "The importance of managing your "tunics"", or, "Be sure never to own too many "tunics"", or, "The importance of sowing your excess "tunics""...
Do you notice the common trend of mis-interpretations here? Every statement is a reference to "self" - "what I should be doing with my "tunics"". Although it seems that John is addressing their actions, He is actually addressing their flawed motives in their existing actions - "pure" believing gives birth to pure motives and pure motives bare the fruit of pure behaviour.
I don't believe he was referring to their "tunic management" at all. I believe he was addressing and PREPARING THEIR HEARTS for what the Kingdom was really about - NOT their self-imposed rituals, but rather to know the HEART OF GOD and to walk in HIS LOVE.

His KINGDOM OF LOVE is constantly advancing to provide "tunics" for those who don't have - AND THIS KINGDOM OF POWER AND LOVE...IS WITHIN US!

The power to give away "tunics" does not lie in being constantly reminded to give away "tunics" (there's no life in that), but rather to know the Father's heart of love towards US AND THE "TUNIC-LESS" (hahaha) - it's His love that compels us! :-)


Jesus loves you all!!