What does it take for you to believe?

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness,and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.   ( this spoken to the Pharisees and Saducees those who presumed to know God.)

     We are saturated in this country with the Gospel of good news; the kingdom of God has come upon you! In my town  alone here in the west we have at least 50 to 100 churches of all denominations.  So the news of the Kingdom is out there.  But what of it?  Is the news accurate? Is it truly tellling the story, or is it just tradition, rote and only necessary to relieve one's conscience? A balm only applied during the Holy days of the year?  

     Indeed we are living in a day in which our religion is just that..'a-religion', a set of traditions and teachings we hold to with a posture of pretense and perhaps perform without thinking about but containing all of the truth's that  Jesus and his disciples lived and taught that if believed  would set you free.  

The question is do we believe it enough today to live it?  And is there time too? We are all busy and time is valuable.  Months and years go by and we are (I) am amazed at how quick.  Our families, jobs, friends take the pre-eminent positions and our time as well.  For those of us on a spiritual journey seeking answers to hard questions or those who are hard pressed in their lives, perhaps they like Jesus said are entering the Kingdom first!  Why?  Because they have come to a certain point when the need in their particular situation forces deeper questioning. A deeper and inner empty space they need to fill.  And like the Adultress in the scriptures, she needed forgiveness and a lifting of her sin and guilt.  And she received it.  Forgiveness was made available and she recognized it for what it was and received it.  There was power.  Plain and simple, God's Spirit at work to transform, heal and allow people to repent.  In the absence  repentance, there can be no transformation.  We have to come to know that we are broken vessels first.  Or at least see someone else who is  and then look at the results in them when God begins to work.  I did....and I was skeptical like many others but finally saw for myself................. Grace and peace.