Having shown us true well-being and the goodness of the kingdom heart, Jesus now, in Matthew 6, alerts us to the two main things that will block or hinder a life constantly interactive with God and healthy growth in the kingdom. These are the desire to have the approval of others, especially for being devout, and the desire to secure ourselves by means of material wealth. If we allow them to, these two desires will pull us out of the sway of the kingdom—“the range of God’s effective will,” as we have described it—and back into the barren “righteousness” of the scribe and the Pharisee. But as
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