Inside and Outside the Kingdom
Kingdom: You have been granted Eternal Life as a free gift of grace. It is a gift you can’t earn. It is a gift of love through Jesus by God the Father and Creator of all things in this entire universe. Look up some clear night and be staggered by its size and beauty.
That Creator God is aware of you and invited you to live with him now and for eternity simply because he loved you. (Ponder the why of that for a while.) He brought you from Spiritual Death to Spiritual Life by His Spirit which He now allows to live in you. He chose you to be his representative, his presence in the world working through you to bring these gifts to others.
He allows his Spirit to live in you shaping and forming you until you reflect his life. He gives you his strength to overcome evil with good and to overcome temptation.
Confession. In spite of all he has given me, I fail. I do not live up to his standards. I do not love others as he loves me. I put myself before others and think I am better than others and that I deserve all he has gifted me. Even with the voice of His Spirit whispering, This is The Way walk in it, I decide I know better, and in rebellion I choose my own path.
Outside the Kingdom: I suspect you could say the same thing to much of that. If you realize all you have been gifted, why do you expect those in their natural state of Spiritual Death without the life-giving presence of the Spirit of Jesus, to live by the same standards you fail at living out on a day-by-day basis? You live in the Kingdom of God. They do not. I find myself comparing my life to others and thinking, “At least I don’t do that.” Jesus said, “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.” Matthew 7:1-2 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/mat.7.1-2.CSB
Do not expect those that do not have the Spirit to live as if they do. Don’t judge them. Love them into the Kingdom
“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
Jesus in John 3:17 NLT