You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they […]
Sermon on the Mount
Devotions: Beatitudes (7) — God’s Peace Corps
Can the ordinary believer be a peacemaker? The answer, says Jesus, is a resounding YES!
Devotions: Beatitudes (6) — Pure in Heart
You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. — Matthew 5:8 (The Message) Notice that God does NOT say, “Blessed are the perfect.” Purity of heart, that is, the inner life, is not the same thing as perfection. This beatitude is for […]
Devotions: Beatitudes (5) — Mercy
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. — Matthew 5:7 Probably next to love, no other character quality so defines God as that of “mercy”. And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom […]
Devotions: Beatitudes (4) — Hungering and thirsting for God
You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. – Matthew 5:6 “Hungering and thirsting” for God is one of the principles of kingdom-living, Jesus teaches us here. We usually get what we want, and Jesus challenges us here to want God more […]