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The
Ark Community
Food
for Thought # 79
Sermon on the Mount: Part 4
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"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth."
These opening lines reveal to us our greatest treasure...
our eternal salvation. No matter how
complicated life gets, don't let it steal your HOPE...
because HOPE fuels our JOY, and our JOY is our
STRENGTH...!
You may have heard it said that our Salvation is FREE.
This is NOT true. Salvation is NOT free… it does have
a price, it cost Jesus His life. Salvation certainly
wasn't free for Him, and neither is it free for us...
Salvation DID HAVE A COST... and Jesus paid the bill
IN-FULL for us... on our behalf. But why am I making
this point...? Because often we do not meditate on the
COST of our Salvation, because we have the phrase
floating around in our head, that Salvation is God's
free gift.
FAITH
is God's free gift to us.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith;
and this
[faith]
not from yourselves, it
[faith] is the
gift of God."
"Blessed
are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will
inherit
the earth."
"Poor in spirit" is pertaining to our
inability to save ourselves. A poor person doesn't
have enough to pay the bills, and spiritually speaking
... neither do we. This is the FIRST step towards
salvation, recognizing we are spiritually BANKRUPT..!
God even gave us the faith we needed to believe...!
The second point is like the first, "Blessed are
the meek". A meek person recognizes his or her
limits, abilities or lack of abilities, and humbly and
honestly admits them. We admit our weaknesses in order
to receive help, even though often people take
advantage of our honesty and walk all over us.
BUT GOD... promises for those who are
"Poor in spirit" and "Meek",
He will reward them by allowing them to receive
Citizenship in His Kingdom and inherit His Earth...!
(Pertaining to life now and the new Creation to
come: Rev 21:1-6).
Please note the use of the word: INHERIT, the
words EARN or DESERVE do
not appear...! What we receive and what we inherit is
GIVEN to us FREELY after Jesus paying the
price. These two heart attitudes are the way we enter
into our eternal hope with God, a Humble and Meek
heart.
"Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be
comforted."
"Blesses are
those who mourn", we mourn in times of sadness,
in times of suffering, often when we face the death of
someone we loved. Living God's way of being humble and
meek, here and now, often is contrary to
our culture and our 'natural' nature, ...our way of
life. Living God's way often leads us into
suffering and death of self. But those who
DARE TO LIVE THE KINGDOM,
as revealed in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount,
WILL BE COMFORTED.
Yes, true
happiness and true comfort is ONLY found in living
life God's way, even though it looks crazy and
illogical. If we 'mourn', we WILL be comforted. Thus
Jesus cements this verse in between His admonition for
us to walk in humility and meekness... even though
this NEW lifestyle is contrary to our nature, we will
find comfort … PEACE..!
Receive the challenge
and DARE to live differently. Meditate this week on
Matt 5:1-10 (The Beatitudes), allow them to RENEW your
mind and way of life.
Dare
to live like Jesus..!
Scripture: Matt 5:1-10, Ephesians 2:8 & Rev 21:1-6
†
Peace and Good in Christ
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