Which Kingdom?

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: It Is Hard to Enter

The kingdom of god stands over against all other
kingdoms--that is, against all other authorities,
sources of power, objects of trust. It is hard to
enter the kingdom of God--not because an angel is
set to keep us out, not because God would
surround Himself with a highly selected elite,
but because the condition for admittance is
renunciation of all other kingdoms.

The wealthy stranger who ran up to Jesus, knelt,
and inquired how he might receive eternal life
"went away with a heavy heart" (Mk 10:22 NEB). He
did not want to pay the price of entrance--a
shift in the source of his trust, from money
(which seemed concrete and dependable) to this
"Good Master" who asked everything visible and
dependable in exchange for what was invisible and
seemingly very undependable.

Every day we are asked which kingdom we choose.
Is it, in the last analysis, "thine" or "mine"
which I most desire? What is it that my most
earnest prayers are directed toward?