Our title for this chapter poses a misunderstanding that many Christians have regarding Christ our righteousness and justification by faith. Many think that sanctification is becoming good enough so that we are finally accepted into heaven. We might refer to this as the pursuit of excellence, which would be a more sophisticated term. The idea is that I can arrive some day to a certain level of performance, and when that happens, the Lord will accept me into the kingdom. This concept involves and demands a great deal of striving so that I might achieve some kind of flawless performance, or at least to become as flawless as I am able. This concept of getting better and better makes it almost impossible to accept Christ as our righteousness.
I would like to state this concept of getting good enough in a way that we can all understand, which is by putting it into an educational, or academic, perspective. Will only the “A” students get into heaven? They are honored in our society, and especially in the academic community; and many look upon heaven as an achievement like that. I am not saying that those who do well in school will get into heaven. I am talking about those who receive an “A” in righteousness. Will they be accepted into heaven? Or might the Lord accept those with a high “B”? Or possibly all who are above average? Would God say that all who are average or below average would be left out? Is it possible that anyone else might get in besides the “A” students? The Bible talks about how only the righteous will be saved, but how righteous do you need to be?
We have already asked the question: What is righteousness? We have many problems with this. Has God drawn some arbitrary line where if you attain above that level you are good enough, and if you are below it you are not good enough? Some say they do not believe in Christian perfection at all. Others believe in Universalism and say that all will get in. If they all cannot get in, who is left out? And why are they left out? Who will make it? Why do they make it? If you believe in absolute Christian perfection, perhaps you think only the “A” students will get in. Or maybe only the top “A” student—the valedictorian—will make it.
We have so many concepts about what it requires, or what is demanded of us, to be accepted into the kingdom; and because of our misunderstandings, we have many fears and problems. We become frustrated and anxious, and feel inferior as non-achievers. When you use the criteria of pursuit of excellence for acceptance into heaven, you run into a multitude of problems that no one seems to have answers for.
For instance, Jesus said, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Matthew 19:30. He put it more dogmatically when He said, “So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.” Matthew 20:16. Some think that the word “first” means first in time. The word “first” is translated from the Greek word protose, which according to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible means “foremost,” or “preeminent.” This same word is found in Mark 9:35. “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.” Jesus was saying that the foremost, or preeminent ones, shall be last; and the last (the least of these) shall be first.
Perhaps you think that text does not fit, so let me give you another one. “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you [before the Pharisees].” Matthew 21:31. The publicans and the harlots are certainly not very good performers, are they? You cannot exactly say that they have been pursuing excellence. How do they have an entrance before others who thought they were doing very well? How do they accomplish this foremost position of going in first? How do you harmonize that with being good enough, or getting better, better, better?
One of our problems with this subject is that we use worldly standards of achievement to measure our qualifications or our excellence in Christianity. Jesus reminded us that His kingdom was not of this world. The value system in His kingdom is not like the value system of this world. In fact, there is no similarity. Unfortunately, most of us use the value system we understand in this world to measure our qualifications for the kingdom of God. We look at ourselves according to worldly ideas and say, “Well, it doesn’t look like I am making it.”
Christ said, “for that which is highly esteemed among men [here in this world] is abomination in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15, last part. But we do not think so.
There are a few texts that illustrate some of the things that are an abomination in His sight. “But all their works they do for to be seen of men.” Matthew 23:5. They like to be on display. Then there are those who “love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.” Verse 6. Today, it is highly esteemed among men to be called “doctor,” or “Reverend,” and many other titles that men seek after. Jesus’ point is that we should not desire to be called by those titles because we have only one Master.
Here is one more illustration: “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” Verse 11. This is the complete opposite of worldly criteria of success. We like to do our works to be seen of men, don’t we? Yes, we love it. It is delightful, it is honorable, and we love it. We like titles, and we like to hear titles concerning ourselves. We love high positions. In fact, we even worship high positions, and have adulation for those in high positions. Many a conference President has been idolized; and we love to invite the people in prestigious positions to our homes. Everyone thinks it is good to gain high status in our educational system, or to climb the ladder of success in our denomination, or to get voted into some high office. We honor valedictorians, but who has ever honored “F” students, or “D” students? Who has ever given them any award at graduation time? We never think of it. We single out certain people. They are special. And Dad nudges you when the valedictorian walks to the podium and says, “Why aren’t you up there?”
We have a variety of methods in the church of showing that we like worldly standards for esteeming people. Look at all of our promotional systems where we honor the ones that brings in the most money. If you do not bring in a certain amount, you do not get a ribbon at the big Sabbath day victory dinner. The colporteur with the highest amount in sales is honored with what they call the Million-Dollar Club. He gets the trip to Hawaii with all expenses paid. The fellow that worked as hard and slaved away as many hours was not in the Million-Dollar Club, and he stayed home where it is cold in the wintertime. Sorry, fellow.
When we want to raise money, we honor people who give large amounts of money. Those evangelists and pastors who win the most souls are honored by getting their names printed in Ministry Magazine. Those who win one hundred souls in one year become members of the Century Club, although fifty Bible workers did most of the work, and never a mention of the Bible workers’ names.
We do the same thing with musicians. The perfect musicians who perform flawlessly are esteemed among men. If you make one mistake out of a thousand notes, nobody applauds you. You did not practice enough. You are not sufficiently perfect, so you will not make it. We do all sorts of things like this for athletes and the finest artists and craftsmen. All through life the emphasis and praise centers on the pursuit of excellence. Almost every human believes in this. We cannot blame the students and the schools and the faculty because father and mother believe it at home. The preachers believe in it. It is that way with everyone, in the world and in the church. We have been brainwashed into believing that this is a good system that is acceptable and is to be pursued, and almost everyone follows it.
It is not easy to convince people that this is contrary to the kingdom of heaven, because we like this system. We hate it, but we like it. Some people keep dangling before their eyes the day when they will be acclaimed. They dream about that wonderful day when all men will applaud them. They do not want to lose that day, and so they long for it and do not want this system destroyed, even though they have been failures so far. Some preachers and teachers would not like this system taken away because they would lose all their pressures on people to pursue excellence. They would not know what to do if this methodology was taken away.
Jesus taught something different, and I wish to spend as much time on His concepts as possible. He spoke about righteousness in terms of the law. “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matthew 22:37-39. He said that the law is supreme love for God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus taught this, and He was the Author of the law if I understand the Old Testament well.
Does the system of rewarding a few, but not others, truly demonstrate loving your neighbor as yourself? Most people like to be rewarded. But suppose someone else gets rewarded but you do not. What happens in your thinking process? You feel like you are a failure because you were not rewarded. You are not a failure because I say so, but because you feel that way. I am talking about what you think, and not what other people think about you. You feel like a failure because you did not make it.
As you reward a certain few, you are saying to the ones not rewarded that you love them less. You are saying that you love the ones who achieve excellence. You esteem and praise them. If you are only a “C” student, then too bad. The teacher may try to tell you that a “C” is not such a bad grade. Then why do you honor only the “A” students?
Some people will say that the “C” students did not deserve a reward. Does anyone deserve heaven? Is there anyone so good that he or she will deserve heaven? I have not read about that in the Bible, have you? If you say that the “A” students deserve the reward, then you are saying that there are some who will deserve heaven, and they must struggle to deserve it. Do those who receive the better grades deserve acclaim and rewards? Do they? Well, they worked harder. Do you mean the others were more lazy or neglectful or disinterested? What do you mean by that? You are talking to more than one person when you say, “He worked harder.” You are talking to the whole class, or the whole school. At least they are all listening. Are you implying that everyone else but the one who got the reward is lazy? Are you saying that only those who work harder get into heaven?
Consider what Jesus meant by the parable of the laborers where those who worked one hour received the same wages (or reward) as those who worked twelve hours. The ones who worked all day long “murmured against the goodman of the house.” Matthew 20:11. They did not think he was fair. The owner of the vineyard said, “Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?” Verse 13. They had agreed to that, but now they had many arguments and good logic to try and get more than those who had only worked for one hour. The owner replied by saying he had treated them nicely. He gave them all the same reward, no matter how long or hard they had worked.
This challenges our theology, and we have not faced the hard facts. Christ our righteousness is confusing to most people because they use worldly ideas of success to determine if they are becoming righteous enough for heaven. The Lord does not judge as man judges, and thank God for that, or most of us would be left out. Very few would make it if God used worldly criteria for success. The Lord does not judge that way.
Why is it that people work hard to be a top student? First of all, they like to be applauded. Few people are immune to that selfish desire. We like to be praised and we like to be honored. Some like it so much that they will sweat and labor for years to make it. And you will praise them because they worked so hard. The “A” on the report card is given to reward the effort people make. It is not that way in the kingdom of heaven. There is effort, but it is quite different. Some slave for high grades because they are frightened of what their dad will say when they get home if they do not have it. Some parents can get hyper over a “C” on a report card. We often try to drive our kids to get better grades.
Maybe we strive for high grades because we want the acceptance of our peers or teachers. If we do not achieve, we do not feel accepted. There are others who, because of an honorable birth, have great intellect, and they hardly work hard at all to get high grades. Should they be honored? Should others not be honored who did not have the good fortune to be born of better parents with more intellect? Would you reward people for their good birth and deprive them because of poor birth? Where would you place the credit?
I am trying to help you see how God thinks about all this in comparison to what our ideas are. The ways of the world create a terrible problem for everyone, and people suffer more than we realize with this worldly system of rewards. Whenever you reward winners you create losers. When you reward success you create failures who are not as successful. When you acclaim the few, you discredit the many; and we are communicating a message to everyone when we reward only a few. They believe what we have to say. The adverse affects of this system do not end right there. Even many “A” students feel like failures. They have told me so. Why? They did not receive the top grade. Only the top one is really acclaimed, they say. It is amazing how people can strive for success but feel slighted because only the one with the top “A” is acclaimed.
This worldly system of rewards is hurting our denomination and all other denominations. Those in high positions whom you would esteem as having great prestige have told me that they feel inferior and unsuccessful. They feel like failures while sitting in those high positions. They have told me why they feel that way. Unless everything goes their way, unless everyone bows down and acclaims them, they are not successful. As soon as someone starts to snipe at them and criticize them a little bit, they feel like failures. They begin to scrutinize all their actions and all their votes to see how much of a failure they are, even though, by worldly standards, they are in high positions. So even successful people can feel inferior.
This worldly system has become a disease that adversely affects both young and old. It is difficult to give people hope who have been brainwashed into believing this system. It is difficult to give them sufficient success so that they feel they are somebody. The system says that only the top one is really worthy of honor. People have come to believe this after years and years of this system being demonstrated in the church, the home, the school, and the community. Making people feel that they are successful is most difficult, if not nearly impossible. And I believe the devil sits back and laughs and laughs and laughs.
Success, prestige, and esteem are like money. When you get your first million you need five or ten; and when you get ten you need twenty. You become addicted and can never get enough. It is like Hollywood actors who once were on the throne with everybody acclaiming them, and now they are forgotten; and they do everything to make themselves look as beautiful as they once did so they can appear on the screen once more and rescue their image. We do some foolish things to rescue our image, and it is a pathetic thing to see people lured on by a philosophy that we have accepted as being so valuable.
Jesus did not believe in a system like that. We like it because it motivates people and drives them to achieve, beyond their limits sometimes. It does not matter to us if they end up in the hospital with ulcers or in a psycho ward. When that happens we say, “Oh, that poor person. They just didn’t know how to handle it.” But we continue to increase the pressures to drive more people to more excellence, and we trust in this system. We think that putting more pressure on people is a way to show them we love them. Is there anyone who does not hate pressure? We take vacations to escape pressures; and we cannot invent enough entertainment these days to get rid of the pressures.
Jesus condemned this system when He said, “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.” Matthew 23:4. The pressures are heavy burdens and are breaking our backs. We are overloaded with pressures, and yet people say, “Try more pressure and you will get more “A” students.” And you will get more physically, mentally, and spiritually sick students, too. Parents use this system with their children, our churches use it in promotions, we think it works well in politics, and teachers would not know what to do without this system when it comes to the grading system.
People argue with me and say, “But Elder Lehman, in heaven they have systems of awards and rewards. In heaven they have position and status. Will not some be nearer the throne than others? Will not some have more stars in their crowns than others? Will there not be certain prestigious groups like the one hundred and fortyfour thousand with special privileges? Heaven has a system like that.” No, they do not have a system like that. They have rewards and awards and different positions, but they are vastly different than in the kingdoms of this world. There is no similarity whatsoever. It is true that some will stand near the throne, and some will have more stars and all these things, but those awards and rewards are vastly different than you think.
In heaven, the work that is rewarded is not that work done for ourselves. Christ described the work that is rewarded: “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” “Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:40,34. You are blessed and you are praised, but only because you are a blessing to other people and not to self. It is not enhancing and developing self, but rather building up others that Christ honors. To those who work for others, He says, “Come inherit the kingdom.” But those who forget about others and only think about self are left out.
Prestige and honor in heaven is different from that here on earth. These people have been bought with a price—the dear Son of God, and He claims them as His own. Whatever you do to them you do to Jesus because they are His property. Jesus will say, “Come ye blessed because you have been working for Me and for souls, and not for self.”
There is another aspect to heaven’s reward system that is different, and this refers to our talents, skills, intellect, and abilities. “For who maketh thee to differ from another? [Why are you brighter than others?] And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” 1 Corinthians 4:7. Why do you brag about your skills as if they were yours, and as if you originated them? God has given them to you, and if you are the steward of them and not the originator, why do you boast of them and accept awards for them?
Peter and John at the beautiful gate of the temple raised up a crippled man, and people began to worship them. They told the people they did not heal the man through their own power, but through the name of Jesus. They said they were only trustees of the healing gift. This is true of all gifts, and of their developments. You would never be able to develop talents and skills if God did not give you a clear memory and good mind, and hands with good coordination. He puts you in good stead with your teachers and employers. He gives you good schools and good parents and the right environment. God is not only the Giver and the Originator of our talents, but He fosters their development, for without Him we can do nothing. All the praise for every talent should be to Him and never to ourselves. We act as though we originated these talents and skills that we demonstrate so capably. We do not think He is around to hear and receive the praise so we take it all ourselves. And we are advertising that God is dead every time we take the credit for what He does with us and for us and through us.
There are two quotations about physicians and their skills that I want us to see. “He would have the members of the medical profession expel from their practice everything which has been brought in by selfishness, avariciousness, injustice. He has given wisdom and skill to physicians, and He designs that nothing savoring of robbery and injustice shall be practiced by those who make the law of Jehovah the rule of their life.” MM 121. In other words, all the skill they have is from God. The next quote is even clearer. “The exorbitant price charged by physicians in this country [Australia], when called upon to attend suffering humanity is robbery, fraud. God gave physicians their wisdom and skill. It is not man who saves life; it is the GREAT RESTORER.” And Ellen White put in the bold words.
All the skill that a doctor has is not his. He did not achieve it and he did not originate it. God gave him that skill. God receives the price for the utilization of it, the blessing of it, and the praise— if we believe in God. The same is true of pastors. They are not the originators of inspiration or knowledge or anything else. None of us have that ability. The same is true of good teachers, good farmers, good mechanics, and good students. Whatever skill you look at or whatever ability, we are neither the responsible agents for that, nor the originators. It is all of Him. Those who are in the kingdom of heaven know that, and all praise resounds to Him.
Read in the book of Revelation about how the inhabitants of heaven constantly praise Him day and night—praising Him from Whom all blessings flow. He is the giver of every good and precious gift according to James 1:17. We are not the giver of those gifts and we do not deserve them. God gives them to us because of His goodness, mercy, and love for us. This is how it comes about, and not because we work so hard for them as many would like to think. Therefore, the status and honor that heaven bestows is on those who praise God for the blessings received and used, and they are used for the benefit of other people.
Jesus spoke the following parable about debtors when He was visiting the home of Simon the leper: “There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And He said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged…Wherefore I say unto thee [Simon], Her [Mary’s] sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Luke 7:41-43,47. Mary looked upon herself as a terrible sinner who had been forgiven for an enormous debt. But Simon thought he was a good fellow and needed forgiveness for little.
The following quote is in reference to what Jesus said to Simon: “Those whom Christ has forgiven most will love Him most. These are they who in the final day will stand nearest to His throne.” MH 182. The greatest lovers are the ones who have been forgiven most, and they will be the closest to Jesus. This is the excellence that heaven values—those who love Him most. Why do they love Him so much? Because they have been forgiven for so much. In order to be forgiven for much, you must have looked upon yourself as a vile sinner. We love Him in proportion to our awareness of our sinfulness, and we thank Him, and we praise Him for amazing grace. Those are the ones who will stand nearest to His throne. They look upon themselves as the worst failures, but saved by grace. They love Him most and thank Him most and praise Him most. The greatest praisers of God are the closest to the throne; and they praise Him because they love Him so much, and that is because He loved them so much.
This is a different kind of excellence than the world rewards or esteems, and the pursuit of this excellence is vastly different than many people have supposed. Our praise is in proportion to how much He has done for us. What has He done for you? It is not how right you are in all of your theology, even though that is important. It is not how much men praise you. It is how much you love Jesus, and why you love Him, and what you do to and for others because you love Jesus so much.
Remember that love is righteousness. God is love, and the law is a transcript of His character; so righteousness is love, and love is righteousness. And Christ our righteousness is Christ our love. The better, better, better concept in the kingdom of heaven is more and more and more love for Jesus and for others.
Love is a strange thing when it comes to excellence. In that classic chapter in 1 Corinthians 13, it says in verse 5 that love “seeketh not her own.” The excellence that we try to develop in our skills and talents is always seeking our own eminence, our own achievement. It is always looking at self and striving for perfection in self. But love does not seek its own. Love esteems every man better than himself. Love seeks another’s welfare. Love is not mindful of self but always mindful of others, and doing for others. Therefore, excellence in love is the very opposite of excellence in some skill or ability.
Jesus described this love: “If any man will come after Me, let him take up his cross and deny himself.” Luke 9:23,24. In the next verse He talked about how, if you seek to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for His sake, you will save it. If you try to make yourself somebody in this world, you will lose everlasting life; but if you lose your life, buried in the wants of others and trying to help them to achieve and succeed, then you gain everlasting life. Therefore, self-denial is the way of eminence and excellence in God’s kingdom of grace. Self-achievement is the way of excellence and ability in this world. We confuse the two in Christ our righteousness, but there is no similarity. One is total forgetfulness of self. The other one is total absorption with self.
The worldly concept of how to gain the kingdom of heaven is vastly different than what men suppose. In self-development, I look at those things inherent in me—my abilities, my talents, my intellect—and I try to cause them to grow and to progress. But love is a different thing. In fact, it is not even in me, for “love is of God.” 1 John 4:7. Love is of God, not of men. You cannot manufacture it. You can strive to be loving but that will not cause you to be loving. You must receive all love from Him. It is the development of characteristics found in someone else, not those things found in yourself. You can only receive them by coming to Him. There is no other way. We love Him because He first loved us. He instigates, He motivates. I do not. He also says, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:11. All the love that comes from me out to you is the result of His love to me. I am always receiving from Him. Pursuit of excellence in love is to come into contact with the One who is love. I do not develop what is inherently in me. I receive it from Him. I must establish communication channels, relationships, and connections so that I can receive; otherwise I will not have it. I must be tied to Jesus and identified with Him.
Those connections, those relationships, are faith and love. We are bound to Him by love and faith, and they really work. We are tied to Him by faith and love, but even they come from Jesus. Love is of God and to every man is given a measure of faith. I must receive even those from Him, and He is waiting to bestow them upon me. While I try to go about developing love and faith in me, God tells me that He has them and wants to give them to me. As we give ourselves to Him, He gives Himself to us with faith and love and righteousness. But I must give myself fully to Him. He will not accept a divided heart.
The striving that must take place is in maintaining the clear channels of communication, of relationships, of connections, so that I know every day that I am His and He is mine. And then every day there is a divine bestowal of love, faith, and righteousness; and through His strength I can do all things, because He has the power and the authority and the ability. I do not.
The abilities, the talents, the skills, the heavenly rewards are all found in Jesus. And Christ our righteousness is laying hold on Jesus and never letting Him go until He blesses us every day. It is coming into that marvelous relationship of love, that divine connection of the vine and the branches, until, as Paul said, “For me to live is Christ.” Philippians 1:21. Then love grows because there is more love flowing out from Him. As I come closer and closer to Him, I see my own sinfulness more and more, and I have more reason for forgiveness. And as He forgives me more, I love Him more. Those who have been forgiven most will love Him most and will stand nearest to His throne. We have been fighting against learning about our sins. We do not want to be forgiven for more, and so we do not want to love Him more. We hate to hear about our sins because we do not think He forgives; yet He can hardly wait to forgive us.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9. When He forgives you much, you love Him much. When you love Him much, you love others; and you tell them that if they only knew the love of the Father and of Jesus, they would love Him, too.
Do you see that achievement in the Christian life is so vastly different from worldly achievement? It is forgetfulness of self, not development of self; and it is the development every day of a bond with Jesus, looking unto Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith. Everyday we embrace Him. Everyday we receive from Him abundant grace; for where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. I bring His love and grace into my very soul until it is like a living fountain, bubbling over and refreshing to me and to others. To those who have this experience, the Lord will say, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34.
Why are we so anxious? Why are we striving and struggling to perfect self when Christ waits to bestow all that we need to enter into the kingdom of heaven? We must feel our need, for only those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. The self-sufficient who believe they are doing a pretty good job are not hungry. It is the needy souls, those who feel sinful, lost, such failures, and inferior that He tells to come to Him and be filled with acceptance and love. He wants to embrace us and make us members of the greatest family in all the universe. He wants to extend the invitation to “Come ye blessed of My Father.”
There is no other pressure in God’s kingdom but the pressure of love. Nothing else but the love of Christ constrains me. How wonderful it is to live under that one pressure. How abominable it is to live under the other pressures. The Lord is waiting for His church, His people, His families, and His institutions to demonstrate just one pressure—the excellence of love, the love of Christ constraining us. And people will marvel and take note that we have been with Jesus because the transformation is so great, and the excellence of character and morality so mighty. They will ask, “How did those people become like this?” And we will answer, “The love of Jesus constrains me. How can I help but love Him when He loves me so much? How can I possibly thank Him when He is so good to me? All praise to Him from Whom all blessings flow!”
Friend, the world is waiting, our children are waiting, our spouses, our parents, our neighbors are waiting for the pressures to be taken away, and to know that one prodding—the gentle prodding of sweet, sweet love that is so great it freely forgives and embraces us as God’s very own possession. Jesus wants to come soon because He loves us so much. We are keeping Him away because we keep using all the systems of the world, and the kingdom of God is not being established in our heart as we respond to the pressures of life. The kingdom of God is the kingdom of love. How wonderful that kingdom is; and what a joyful, peaceful, happy, fulfilling life it is to serve Him in that kingdom. May God grant you relief from all pressures except the sweetness of His love, is my prayer in Jesus’ name.