Hezekiah, The Poster Boy For Selfishness

In 2 Kings 20 there is a story about Hezekiah, one of the Kings of Judah. In the beginning of the story he is close to death, and Isaiah the prophet comes to him and tells him to set his house in order, because he is going to die. Hezekiah cries out to the Lord to heal him, and God does so, telling him that he will even add fifteen years to his life.

Later on, some men from Babylon come to visit and bring him a gift because the king of Babylon had heard he was sick. Hezekiah shows them everything in his palace, all the royal treasuries, all his riches and wealth. When the men leave, Isaiah shows up and asks about them. After Hezekiah told Isaiah all that he had done, the prophet tells him that there will come a day when everything will be carried off to Babylon, and even his own descendants will be taken away and become servants to the king there.

It is in verse 19 that I noticed what could be described as the best definition of selfishness I've ever seen. "The Word of the Lord you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "Will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?" I mean how selfish is that? He gets a word from the Lord that Jerusalem and all in it will be carried off to a foreign land, and all he can think about is, "Well at least I won't be here to see that."

In Proverbs 13:22 it says, "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just." It's interesting that when Hezekiah was sick he called out to the Lord to heal him, but when he heard what was going to happen to his own family and country he thought that was good, all because he wouldn't be around to experience it. Talk about being truly selfish at your core.

I don't know about you, but I want to learn from Hezekiah's example of what "not" to do. I don't want to be so selfish in my thinking that all I can think about is how will this effect me and what can I get for myself? I want to be that good man that leaves an inheritance for my children's children. Not the selfish dolt who spends everything on myself not caring what happens to my descendants down the line.

Get 'em up folks, there are enough selfish people out there, let's go whip something and be selfless in the process. For the Kingdom and the King!

The Kingdom of Heaven Is At Hand and Heaven, Are They Different?

Jesus made the following statement while He was on the Earth, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Now I think that anytime you see Jesus say something, then it probably is something that we should take note of. But I think this statement gets caught up in the religiosity of the Christian community and takes on something other than what Jesus perhaps meant.

Here is what I mean, Jesus says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." and we hear, "Everything you will ever need you will have in Heaven." You've heard it said, and maybe even said it yourself to friends, family members and co-workers that are not born again, "Don't you want to get saved so you can go to Heaven?" (And yes, I too have used that lame line to try and win someone to the Lord. Father forgive me for misrepresenting You in that way.)

Yes I believe that if you die, and have been born again you will go to Heaven, but I don't believe for a minute anymore that that is the end all of what Jesus purchased for us with His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Everything that Jesus did, He did for us here on Earth. He came to return us to the original design. (That would be Adam & Eve in the Garden with a personal relationship with God the Father.) Yet, we cheapen it for so many people when all we try and do is get them saved without telling them what the real purpose is for that.

We were designed to have fellowship with the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, that is God's original idea. But because of the sin of Adam and Eve we fell, and that relationship was cut off. God sent Jesus to die for us, in our place, for the punishment of that sin so that we could return to the fellowship that God had desired in the first place. But until we actually accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we cannot be a part of that.

Look at Luke 4:17 -1 9: And there was delivered to Jesus the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And then He sat down and said, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears."

Jesus told the people there that this is why He had come, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth. We have everything that we need right now, are you poor, the Kingdom can make you rich; are you brokenhearted? Jesus was sent to heal your broken heart. Are you bound, then deliverance is yours. Can you not see (Either for real or spiritually?), then you can recover your sight. He has brought us liberty, and the year of jubilee, which when it happened meant you get all your stuff back! Hallelujah! That's good news.

So this whole thing is for the here and now, not in the by and by. We can have all of our needs met, whatever they are in the here and now, if we will just believe and act in faith. I don't know about you, but that makes me want to do a little happy dance. (Something I took time to do just now.) I am getting excited about my future, it is a bright one, and I will be operating in the Kingdom of God today, not when I get to Heaven, how about you?

Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom of God today!