Qualifying for the Kingdom

[Daily Devotional]

Qualifying for the Kingdom 

Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a
little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10: 15. 

Christ does not acknowledge any caste, color, or grade as necessary to
become a subject of His kingdom. Admittance to His kingdom does not depend
upon wealth or a superior heredity. But those who are born of the Spirit are
the subjects of His kingdom. Spiritual character is that which will be
recognized by Christ. His kingdom is not of this world. His subjects are
those who are partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust. And this grace is given them of God.
Christ does not find His subjects fitted for His kingdom, but He qualifies
them by His divine power. Those who have been dead in trespasses and sins
are quickened to spiritual life. The faculties which God has given them for
holy purposes are refined, purified, and exalted, and they are led to form
characters after the divine similitude. . . . 

Christ draws them to Himself by an unseen power. He is the light of life,
and He imbues them with His own Spirit. As they are drawn into the spiritual
atmosphere, they see that they have been made the sport of Satan's
temptations, and that they have been under his dominion; but they break the
yoke of fleshly lusts, and refuse to be the servants of sin. . . . They
realize that they have exchanged captains, and they take their directions
from the lips of Jesus. As a servant looks to his master, and as a maid
looks to her mistress, so these souls, drawn by the cords of love to Christ,
constantly look unto Him who is the Author and Finisher of their faith. By
beholding Jesus, by obeying His requirements, they increase in the knowledge
of God and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. Thus they become changed into
His image from character to character until they are distinguished from the
world, and it can be written of them: "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth he
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God:
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2: 9,
10). 

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 51