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A Kingdom Commentary
Our "Favorite Places" section stresses the new meaning that a knowledge of our future destiny in God's heavenly kingdom can bring to the way we conceive that our earthly careers should unfold.
There are many references to the "kingdom" in the Urantia Papers--to the point that it may be possible to have a false view of the real meaning. In Paper 170, we find the comment that though Jesus, "may have presented numerous concepts of the kingdom in his public teachings...to his apostles he always taught the kingdom as embracing man's personal experience in relation to his fellows on earth and to the Father in heaven." And his last word to them was always, "The kingdom is within you."
To serious students of the Papers, these comments must direct attention to their relationship firstly to the indwelling spirit forces within and secondly, to the loving service of their fellows. For this latter task, the leading of Spirit of Truth needs to be sought:
"Love, unselfishness, must undergo a constant and living re-adaptive interpretation of relationships in accordance with the leading of the Spirit of Truth. Love must thereby grasp the ever-changing and enlarging concepts of the highest cosmic good of the individual who is loved. And then love goes on to strike this same attitude concerning all other individuals who could possibly be influenced by the growing and living relationship of one spirit-led mortal's love for other citizens of the universe." (1950)
Why do we need the leading of the Spirit of Truth for this task of service? We are told: "Do not make the mistake of expecting to become strongly intellectually conscious of the outpoured Spirit of Truth. The spirit never creates a consciousness of himself, only a consciousness of Michael, the Son." (2061)
It is through the revelatory life of Michael as Jesus of Nazareth that we obtain some understanding of the "highest cosmic good" of those whom we are called to serve. However, there is no way that any human being could know what would constitute the "highest cosmic good" of another human being in any particular circumstance.
To take the guesswork out of love for our neighbor we need guidance. And because the communication channels we have with the available spirit guidance from within tends to have a high noise-to-signal ratio, our acquired knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus can be of invaluable assistance in "knowing" how to respond when our love is needed.
Life "in the kingdom" is quite different from ordinary life. Even though the external appearance of a kingdom liver may not appear to have changed much, once a full commitment has been made, our lives can and do become truly centered upon the spirit forces within--to the point that these spirit forces take precedence in the forefront of our minds rather than simply being present in the background.
When this happens, we truly do become as Jesus would have us be, his spirit-centered disciples, serving "as we pass by."
However, we all need a "universe reference frame" in which to think and reason. (1260) To succeed as a kingdom-liver, it is imperative that we get our universe frame adjusted to the perspective of our future universe career.
Virtually nothing associated with what normally are the cherished attainments of our material existence goes forward with us into the next phase of our lives. Fame, success, fortune, the adoration (or envy) of our peers, our accumulated material possessions, nothing of a material nature, nor anything tainted with that egocentricity derived from our animal heritage, has any spiritual value. Not even the memory of them will survive.
If worldly attainment has taken center stage in our lives, and if we did have a guardian angel (which seems unlikely), then, if questioned about what we actually attained by living on this planet, that angel would be forced to reply, "nothing."
Our entry into the "kingdom" requires a total re-orientation of our lives towards a state in which becoming God-centered, learning to "take no anxious thought," living one day at a time, waiting upon the will of God, and simply serving "as we pass by" constitutes our unworried, unhurried daily existence.
Only then does the "your kingdom come, your will be done" petition of the Lord's prayer have real meaning. 'Tis food for meditation.
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