“More fit for the kingdom,” (“More Holiness Give Me”, Phillip Paul Bliss). “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” We will not be able to fit through the strait and narrow gate of the Kingdom of Heaven if we are trying to hold onto all of our worldly things. We can't sneak anything that is less than holy or eternal into our Father's house. When we say that we can't take it with us, we usually refer to our money or our possessions. But other things that we can't take with us would include anger, resentment, jealousy, fear, doubt, or self-loathing. “Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life. Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.” (Alma 5:27-29). Only the pure in heart can see God, because only the pure in heart have been stripped of all pride and envy and strife, everything extra having melted and burned away like dross in the furnace of affliction, and thus only they have made themselves into the least and the humblest and can actually fit through the eye of the needle and enter into the kingdom. As we ruthlessly cut off every part of ourselves that is at odds with our Heavenly Father's Celestial laws, we slowly but surely refine and purify our hearts through the saving grace of our Savior Jesus Christ and we become fit for the Kingdom. “For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.” (D&C 88:22). God has many possible designs for us and our lives here on earth and throughout all eternity, but the best possible version involves us exercising our own free will to cast aside everything that is superfluous or that runs counter to that grand design and embrace the enabling power of Jesus Christ's Atonement to shape and to mold us bit by bit until we have filled exactly the measure of our creation and will fit perfectly into our prepared place in our Father's House.
