A Simple Faith: Part One

"When some of the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered, saying unto them, the Kingdom of God does not come by obervation.

"Neither will they say, Behold, it is here! Or Behold it is there! for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you."
Luke 17:20-21

I believe Jesus was embued with divine wisdom that gave Him direct access to the Kingdom. He taught us love; of Our Creator, ourselves and others. He lived by the Golden Rule; he treated others as he wished to be treated. He taught us, by word and example, how to gain direct access to the Kingdom within.

For me Jesus was The Wayshower. He was the wise Jewish Rabbi, the teacher, the counselor; who taught repentence for our errors, forgiveness of our transgressions against others and to forgive those who transgress against us, and that, he being born the lowest of the low, told us that no one is excluded from the Kingdom, no one is beyond redemption.

We, in contrast, create barriers within that block our access to the path, divert us from the straight and pure pathway. These inner obstacles are largely based in fear. For example, if we do not love ourselves, how are we to love others? Simply, by realizing that Our Creator loves us unconditionally, accepts us just as we are; perfect and whole creations of a loving benevolent Creator.

Consider this scenario if you will. Imagine that you are in a jungle, full of the marvels of Our Creator's creation, some helpful and others dangerous to our well being. We see, in the far distance, a brightly lit clearing. We set out for it, only to find our way blocked by tangles of vines, large fallen logs, stone walls seemingly insurmountable and similar blockages. We struggle mightly, lose our path and become lost. Exhausted and afraid, we lean against a tree to catch our breath and regain some strength, and become aware of a person standing nearby. He smiles and gently asks if we need help finding the path. We say, "Yes please, we could use some help." He says, "Follow me, I know the way, let me show you."

He shows us how to unintangle ourselves from the vines, and show us that the fallen logs and seemingly impassable walls are only illusions our ego has erected in our path to test us. We get caught up in external fears and lose our inner loveway. Leading us along, He teaches us how to overcome our fears, how to pass through these false barriers. As we see Him easily pass through the barriers, we learn that all we need do is follow Him, to listen and learn from Him. He stops every now and again and shares the eternal truths with us, inspiring us to recommit ourselves to following the path.

As we follow his teachings our faith grows and we gain more strength, which enriches our wisdom, which we then use to overcome other barriers as we encounter them. As our faith grows, our knowledge and wisdom grows and we find it easier to stay on the path, to overcome each barrier as our ego throws them before us to challenge our faith, our resolve, our knowledge of ourselves and the jungle world in which we live.

At the last moments in our life we finally come to the opening in the clearing, throw off the coat of this lifetime and find there other loved one who have entered this clearing before us. We see the beauty of the land, ingest food and other sustenence of a spiritul nature, quite unlike the food and water we ingested on our now abandoned physical body. We find rest and peace, and most of all find ourselves afloat in the eternal love of Our Creator. We find that all this was given to us because we followed the path, guided along by a simple faith taught us by the Rabbi Jesus

May the comfort of a simple faith be with us all.

Peace,

Rich