“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.” – Matthew 21:31
Ouch! This is a message the chief priests and religious leaders certainly didn’t want to hear. To learn that despised sinners would enter God’s Kingdom before the holiest men of the land must have been shocking and offensive. But they needed to hear this message because entrance into God’s Kingdom isn’t based on genealogy, power, prestige, title, or appearances. Entrance into God’s Kingdom is a matter of grace, faith, and the heart.
God’s Kingdom is wide open for people with shameful, disgusting, vile, or evil backgrounds. They simply need to recognize their sin, genuinely repent of it, and embrace Jesus. In God’s Kingdom there is love, embrace, healing, and restoration for everyone who has messed up badly, done terrible things, and asked God’s forgiveness in the name of Jesus.
However, God’s Kingdom is shut tight for everyone who likes to look holy and religious without humbling themselves to accept God’s grace. The gates are shut for those planning to enter based on their public practice of religion, their Bible knowledge, their power, or their position in the church. Nobody can enter God’s Kingdom on their own because God’s Kingdom is a place of perfection and none of us are perfect. The only way into God’s Kingdom is through faith in Jesus, the Son of God, Who was perfect on our behalf.
It doesn’t matter if the first few acts of your story have been full of sin, shame, selfishness, cruelty, greed, or guilt. It doesn’t matter if the first few acts have been full of self-righteous, arrogant, harsh, proud legalism and hypocritical displays of visible holiness. What matters is whether you have turned from all that and embraced Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Have you? #FollowJesus