Henri Nowen talks about “two kinds of death” – one into the Kingdom of God and one into Hell. Dying into ‘new life’ always seems a strange way of entering the kingdom. To have life in the Kingdom we need to ‘give life away’. Jesus teaches this in a number of ways – seeds rely on death before bringing new life, coming to God in simplicity as children, ‘giving everything away’ to really know God, and selling “everything” to buy the field with the treasure or the pearl of great price.
What does this mean for us as Jesus followers?
Matt 11 came to me:
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
It encourages us to take our place and be deeply connected with him and get into what is happening in his Kingdom. It’s a voice of encouragement to those of us who are “weary and carry heavy burdens” – “I will give you rest”. Not a rest of doing nothing, but rather a rest because we are yoked with Jesus. He will help us and we will get our lives aligned with him. This life is “easy and the burden light”. Sometimes it doesn’t feel so light or easy – but the promise remains.
This is life in the Kingdom.
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