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How does a person enter into the kingdom of God? Is it through rituals, practices, words, diet, or something else? The Apostle Paul believes that it is something more: righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.I think of these things as linked rather than separate ideas. "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace" (James 3:18). Peace and righteousness go hand in hand, with each helping to create the other. Imagine a world filled with righteousness and peace: would it not be filled with joy? Consider one filled with joy and peace: would it not be righteous? Let’s delve a bit deeper into this verse.The early Roman church adopted a vegetarian diet and did not drink alcohol. Personally, I think that these are worthy pursuits that take a lot of will power and are righteous actions in themselves, but the reason that Paul feels the need to explain the kingdom of God is as a result of why they were doing this. He did not want believers of Christ to think that the kingdom of God was given to those that followed a diet or set of rituals. This is not what Jesus taught at all. Christianity in the New Testament is much less about what you cannot do and much more about what you should do: love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30), and you should love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39).I think that being mindful of what we eat and drink is important, however, and think that diets at the time that Paul wrote the book of Romans were very different than those of today. I do think it is important to resist the carnal pleasures of the flesh and think that gluttony is one of the current plagues on society. To be carnally minded is death, but to focus on the Spirit is life (Romans 8:6-8).Christianity is not just a set of rituals or practices, do’s and don’ts. It is much more than that. The kingdom of God is about righteousness, justified through faith, peace and the peacemakers, and joy, rejoicing in the name of our Lord. Let us give thanks that we are one in the name of the Lord. Rejoice! Amen.