Change your mind

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

CHANGE YOUR MIND

Matt 4:17

17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." 

NIV

We think we should stop right here and consider just how significate these words of Jesus are. First, Jesus was admonishing people to repent. This Greek word used here, which of course Jesus did not speak in Greek, but rather this is what is now the translated version of the languages spoken, such as Aramaic, is the from the same word we use as metamorphosis. This word repent means to change one’s mind. To have a transformation of how one thinks. To think differently than one has been thinking. Of course, Jesus was saying to change the way of thinking that righteousness comes from the law. He wanted them and us to see that righteousness comes from the kingdom of God. We know that there is no righteousness except in Christ. We cannot attain any form of righteousness on our own, for as we have considered before, that although we desire to do good, evil is right there with us. So then, Jesus says to repent, change our minds about things, we cannot ever be good enough. We cannot ever do enough good works. We cannot ever do anything that affects our gaining eternal life, except accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior. He is the kingdom of God. He is our way to the kingdom of God. He is the only way to heaven. The Jews always thought their obedience to the Law of Moses gave them the path to heaven. Jesus said repent, change your minds. It seems some believers use the word repent to mean we must confess our sin, which we should do, but that is not the repentance Jesus is speaking about. Simply change your mind, think differently about how you are going to get to heaven. The reason it is so important to change the way we think is that the kingdom of heaven is near. What did Jesus mean when he said it was near? That Greek word means to bring near, to join one thing to another. That meaning might bring us some insight. Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is being joined with the earth, that is the two will be one. Before Jesus, could we say that kingdom of heaven remained aloft, above the earth and men could not enter this kingdom while on earth? But since Jesus, he has brought the kingdom of heaven to earth so that as we live here in the physical, we can live in the kingdom of heaven spiritually, at the same time. This would coincide with the fact that we are no longer citizens of this world, but our citizenship is in heaven. We live in the kingdom of heaven right now, although someday this body will go through a complete change, putting off the perishable and putting on the imperishable, changing from mortal to immortal. But for now let us know in our heart that the kingdom of God is near, it is here, within us as we are within it because we have changed our minds.