King of the Hill

Life is a ‘game’ of king of the hill (Wikipedia).

The top of the hill in the kingdom of God - the penthouse - is the level of our loving God. At the bottom of the kingdom of God is the basement where the loveless beasts scavenge for scraps among the ruins of Eden in cutthroat competition with the other loveless beasts.

Evil offers us a demotion. Evil offers us a drastic reduction in our dignity. Evil tries to hurl us off the steep cliff from the level of our loving God to the level of the loveless beast.

In opposition to evil that tries to cast us down - that tries to sink us into catastrophe (Wikipedia), our loving God wants us to resist - to stay at the same level as him. Our loving God invites us to take his hand and hang on - to squeeze his hand - to hang on tight.

Hence, the dynamic tension in the ‘game’ of king of the hill (Wikipedia).

Jesus refused evil’s offer of a demotion. He refused a reduction in his dignity. Jesus refused to allow evil to reproduce itself within him (Matthew 5:38-40). Evil did not find a foothold in Jesus. Jesus gave evil no purchase. There was no room for evil to enter the inn of his most Sacred Heart (Luke 2:7). Love had reserved all of the space for itself.

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:20-21).