Jesus said to them,‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. Mat 21:31

‘Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Mat 21:43

There are a couple of warnings in these verses. Whenever you see the Jesus talking to the Pharisees, you will see some warnings as well, and we would do well to heed these warning as well because we are just as susceptible to being dogmatically religious and missing the point as they were. Today Jesus is warning us that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of us. This warning is going out to any of us who have not believed in the name of Jesus. We may be good and never hurt a fly, but there are things that Jesus calls us to so that we can lay hold of the kingdom of God.
The second warning is that the kingdom of God can be taken away from those who at first glance look like they have it together and should be those to inherit the kingdom and that it would rather be given to those who will produce its fruit.

In order for us to lay hold of the kingdom of God, we need to believe in Jesus and to produce his fruit, that is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We need to produce these in ourselves and work to produce them in others. We need to go after the things that matter for all eternity, rather than the things that are temporary.

Make sure that you are in line to inherit the kingdom of God by doing what Jesus teaches and living life right before God.

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