NOTE!! I just posted 4 posts at the same time. Don't forget the one entitled 'Facing the Giants & A Faith Showing Angel'.
Day 5
Matthew 5:1-12
- Oh no…. the beatitudes… this could be a long entry… I’m sunk.
- Blessed are the poor in spirit. OK I admit I have no idea what that means. I will have to look that one up and come back to it.
- Blessed are those who mourne…. So when bad things happen I should mourn.
· Hmm… so mourn makes me think of a funeral. Crying. Real deep sadness. Am I really sad when things happen? Empathy? How badly did I hurt when there was flooding in the east? How much did my actions show that I was devastated by the 100,000 people who died in the Christmas tsunami of 2004? Now, ‘my heart went out to them’. But a lot of good that did. It didn’t feed or shelter a single person. It seems that if I really mourned for my friend in need, i’d take off my shirt and give it to them because they lost theirs. Besides, I have 20 more in the closet.
- Blessed are the meek… man. This is totally countercultural. Might is right. The strong will survive. Survival of the fittest. This idea that the meek will inherit the earth goes against everything one would assume to be true. Instead, God says that those who are not the strongest and the best are the ones who will get into heaven. So why do I strive to be the strongest and the best and get the most stuff?
· I need to be meek. I think the biblical (as opposed to the current) definition of meek is to be gentle. Instead of trying to show that I am the best, just be happy with who I am.
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Hmm. Maybe I should skip this one. I know that I fail at this one. When I’m really hungry, I skip other stuff to get food. I can’t think of the last time that I was so hungry for the word of God that I forgot to eat a meal. I can’t think of the last time that I was so thirsty to worship my savior that I just sat for hours in his presence and soaked in his love. Maybe the reason that I am not satisfied is because I am not feasting on his word. I am not drinking in his love. Instead I spend 10 minutes reading a few words of scripture and walk away hungry wondering why.
· I need to let my hunger drive me to action. I need to spend significant parts of my day just falling more in love with my savior. I need to show by my actions that I am more hungry for God than I am for sleep and computer time.
- Blessed are the merciful, for they are the ones who will be shown mercy.
· Hmm… I don’t know that I well or badly at this one. I don’t have a lot of people wrong me. I’m not around a lot of people who are mean to me or are jerks. I think I do a good job when people are mean. Maybe I should revisit this one later.
- Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. Well I’m sunk on this one. There is no way I am pure in heart. Man my heart is full of bad stuff. I think bad thoughts all the time. I talk behind people’s back, I don’t love people like I should, I allow all sorts of things to be my idols and keep me from God. I’m sunk. My heart is not pure. So what am I supposed to do?
· I should be pure. Well yah.. .but what does that look like and how do I get there? I need to be in the scriptures daily to see WHAT a pure life look like. How can I live out what I don’t know? I need to find things in my life that reflect scripture and DO them.
· But more than that I need to beg God to change my heart. I need to be spending time before him learning his heat so that I can have mine molded to be like his.
- Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. Hmmm… am I a peacemaker? Well I don’t go around fighting people. But I think I do a pretty good job of trying to keep the peace between people. But there are times when I am definitely not peaceful. Red lights are my bane. Little mechanical things that don’t work correctly are my bane.
· I need to play the part of peacemaker to myself. When the red lights are attacking me, just be peaceful. Relax. Breathe…..
- Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. I don’t think I’ve been persecuted much for my righteousness. I think that instead, I usually try to fly under the radar and not make waves. Instead of standing up for what I know to be true and right, I just don’t speak up so that I don’t offend people. Jesus ASSUMED that we would be persecuted because we were so darn righteous! we are supposed to be living such great lives among the rest of the world that they see us as wrong.
You know… that wouldn’t actually be that hard to do these days. If Christians stood up and said that homosexuality was wrong, we’d be persecuted by the world. If Christians stood up and said that gossip was wrong and didn’t stand for it in the workplace, we’d be thought weird. If we stood up in the churches and said that divorce was wrong and not acceptable, the church would persecute us! If we would stand up and boldly hold to scripture and let people know that you can not be a benchwarmer on Sunday and make it into heaven and that you must have good works to show that you are saved, there would be a revolt in the nation and in the church!
But we don’t. We stand quietly at the water cooler as people gossip about Amy and Brandon. We wouldn’t want to tell people they were doing something wrong. Instead, we should stand up for what Scripture tells us and hold each other accountable.
· I don’t do very well at this. I am a guy who doesn’t like to make waves with people around me. I do well at church when I am preaching to the students, but the rest of the time, I just keep my opinions to myself.
· So I think there are 2 things I need to do about this. First, I need to speak up about what is right. If they don’t hear it from me, who will they hear it from? Be bold.
· Second, I need to know the scripture. If I am going to say that the bible says something, I better be able to show them where. Its like when I was talking to daddy and donna, I was making assertions but didn’t have the passages memorized to back it up.
- Blessed are you when people insult you and say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
· This kinda goes with the last one. I should live such a good life among people that evil people will invent ways to bring me down. Again, this goes against the current Christian thought of living a happy life so people will be attracted to Jesus. Instead, scripture says that if I am living like Christ wants me to, that some people will just hate me no matter what. That’s ok.
- Rejoice and be glad because your reward is in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You know what.. Its ok if I lose friends over speaking my mind. People have always hated those who spoke the truth in a way that they didn’t like. In the end, God says that its my job to speak the truth as best as possible, and let him take care of the rest. No, that doesn’t mean that I go around looking for ways to offend people. That doesn’t mean that I am intentionally rude. Everything I do should be soaked in and seeping love. But even when I do that, some people will not be receptive because they are enemies of God. I’m ok with them hating me because I am more interested in pleasing my savior.
2 comments:
I think you're looking at some of these backward. Jesus isn't talking about what we ought to do or how we ought to behave so much as He's talking about God.
Blessed are those who mourn, for the will be comforted.
The Jewish people were mourning because they hadn't seen their Messiah yet and they were being oppressed. They were comforted by the arrival of Christ and the vindication of their souls before God.
Blessed are the meek.
NO! Meek does NOT mean weak. Moses was meek, but he was ANYTHING but weak. Meek means being willing to submit yourself to the will of God. It takes a great deal of strength and often "insensitivity" to say "God's way is good and YOUR way is evil."
Again, I remember hearing a great sermon about this, but I'll have to find it...
I love you, bro. You REALLY need to listen to several of these sermons:
http://www.rufatbaylor.org/sermons.html
Start with "A Warrior King's Wedding" http://www.rufatbaylor.org/sermons/RUF_09-08-04.mp3
Next, go to "Corruption to Conquest - Part 1" http://www.rufatbaylor.org/sermons/h_1027.mp3
And then Part 2.
You NEED to listen to these. You really do. I'm not talking about "Oh, that's a great sermon." I'm talking about "Oh, THAT'S why I do that! That's what such-and-such doesn't work!" He answers the hard questions and he answers them in terms of Christ, not in terms of self or in terms of sin or even in terms of scripture, but in terms of Christ.
Go. Do it. Now. Burn them to CD. Now. Why are you still reading? If I get there and you haven't heard any of them, then that's what we're going to do the WHOLE time I'm in Denton.
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