The journey through "The Beatitudes" and ultimately through Matthew 5-7 is going to be a fun adventure! There are so many of Jesus' teachings in this section of scripture, so many pictures of just how radical Jesus' expectations are for his followers that we do well to enter this study with open and contrite hearts. It is so easy to believe that after a time of following God that we kind of have the gospel "figured out." What we forget is that every time we open God's word it will lay us bare and call us to an ever increasing devotion to the one we serve. When his message loses that "wow" to us, we have probably become overly comfortable following a religion rather than the life giving relationship we have with Jesus Christ.
This week we will take a look at the 3rd and 4th Beatitudes:
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Within these two teaching we are confronted with many realities, but 2 really come to the forefront:
1. How do we see ourselves in light of who God is?
2. What is it that we hunger for more than anything else? What is it that captures our hearts and won't let us go?
The answers to these two questions go a long way toward giving us a fairly accurate picture of what our walk with Jesus looks like. When the picture of myself becomes too big and important, my faith in Christ begins to shrink. And when I am hungry for things other than the righteousness of Jesus, I find myself quickly into idol worship.
Oh, that God would be more and I would be less!
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