Say No to Self-Righteousness, Romans 3:23, 24

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23, 24 NIV)

Whenever we put ourselves in a “them” and “us” dichotomy we are liable to subconsciously deem ourselves superior. Linguistically we do this all the time “believers” and “non-believers”, “true Christians” and “lukewarm Christians”. Think about how often statements such as “I’m waiting until marriage” are implicitly saying “I’m better than X because I have decided to maintain my purity”. Scripture repeatedly warns us of judging one another (Matt 7:1-5;Luke 6:37; Romans 2:1), of looking at the flaws of others as if we possess none ourselves.

When you get some time, no matter how many times you may have previously done this, read the first three chapters of Romans; there is always a new paradigm to be gained from revisiting scripture. In these chapters Paul underlines our failings and privilege in Christ. He laments that rather than the law allowing us to gain salvation through our actions, “through the law we become conscious of our sin” (3:20). This is the state that we live in, our behaviour shall never be perfect and when put it up in front of the Law we don’t come off looking too good.

But for God.

Paul writes to the Romans of how God in His perfect judgement and timing gave us the perfect atonement for all of our mess: Jesus Christ. Without Christ we are prone to repeatedly sin and suffer the consequences, but through Him we are granted life and freedom, for in Christ’s death, for all humanity, God accepted His perfect sacrifice. “But now God has shown us how to become right with him. The Law and the Prophets give witness to this. It has nothing to do with obeying the law. We are made right with God by putting our faith in Jesus Christ” (3:21-22). To the Jews who came to know Christ they would have seen the fulfilment of the prophecies of the Old Testament of the Messiah who would come and save the people of Israel. As we know they didn’t all choose to accept this, wanting a physical king who would be retributive not someone they perceived to be a puffed up teacher preaching blasphemous love for himself and peace over anger. Nonetheless, to all Christ offered this freedom. To all, everyone of us, with a list of flaws of such length it’s incomprehensible, He offered us another chance.

“for all have sinned and fall shortof the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

There’s an obvious two-fold message to this. Firstly, this applies to you in your personal life. Through Jesus Christ you are justified, your sins have been paid, on that day of judgement you will not be going on to suffering but to perfect life with the Father. Through His love your worry, mistakes, shame hold no power – all has been wiped clean. Second half, every person saved (and yet to be) by Christ is flawed. You are no better than anyone else, it is not your goodness but His that has saved you. In this truth operate in a spirit of mercy, patience and love with everyone you encounter. Don’t look down your nose at them because they do one type of sin when you do others. Humble yourselves in the knowledge of humanity being affected by the fall, not just people who sin in obvious ways. None of us possess the perfection of Christ in our personalities, but through His sacrifice we have life. Part of this responsibility is to share such love with others you come into contact with. I hope that in reflecting on these chapters you will feel moved to empathise rather than sneer at your fellow man.

Learning to do so is part of our spiritual maturation, we won’t always achieve these things perfectly. There will be times where this feels more trying than send want. But it is something we should strive to do with sincerity.

God bless and keep you always x

What about me? Matthew 11:28-30

Ever gone with friends or family to church and heard them singing outside of the song? Everyone else is singing “Our God is awesome, He can move mountains” meanwhile your aunty’s going “He is mighty to saaaaave”. Now if we put aside the possibility of her trying to show off or fix the song to what she feels is appropriate she’s ‘singing her heart song’. Christians are encouraged to really listen and communicate with God in deeply spiritual ways. Some people speak tongues, it isn’t a load of crap, though it can be a bit shocking if unexpected. Other people see interpretative pictures that they can ask God about and gain messages through. A heart song may be a word, or a phrase that holds the same significance as tongues (ethereal language if you didn’t know [SO COOL]). It speaks out your love, your devotion, your personal knowledge of Him in a form beyond reciting lines to a song. Some people do this IN tongues, Jesus didn’t grant me that gift so I’m just going to hate from over here.

God really laid this song on my heart. Excuse the Christianese. I have thought of nothing else for three days lol. The final refrain is quite popular and the current theme tune to my existence. But on looking up the whole song the words were so beautiful that I really wanted people to pay attention to them.

You were near
Though I was distant
Disillusioned, I was lost and insecure

Still mercy fought
For my attention
You were waiting at the door
Then I let You in

Trading your life
For my offenses
For my redemption, You carried all the blame

Breaking the curse
Of our condition
Perfection took our place

When only love could make a way
You gave Your life in a beautiful exchange

My burden erased
My life forgiven
There is nothing that could take this love away

My only desire
And sole ambition
Is to love You just the same

When only love could make a way
You gave Your life in a beautiful exchange
When only love could break these chains
You gave Your life in a beautiful exchange

Holy are You, God
Holy is Your name
With everything I’ve got
My heart will sing how I love You

Quite recently I saw a picture of a NY subway train. As it slithered forward it morphed into a python. I tried looking into each train carriage in my mind’s eye and nobody seemed to be in there. You’re encouraged to ask questions or pray into these things, so I asked God what in the heck was the point of seeing an empty train-snake-thing? He showed me the final carriage. In it a girl was cowering in the dank, emptiness,
helpless and fearful. The giant snake was sliced in two before my eyes and I saw specs of light ascend out of it.

One of the best lies the Enemy can tell you is that you are not loved, you are worthless, you hold no value. Nothing could be more wrong. God made you with intention and uniqueness. Everybody sins. It’s just fact. The additional component of that fact is there is no sin too big that God will turn His back on you when you seek Him. The victory has been won, it is yours for the taking, as is forgiveness and limitless love. I implore you to consciously choose to accept His love and goodness. So many people don’t know that their price has already been paid. They walk around with the weight of the world on their shoulders when Jesus is saying come to me my burden is light and easy.

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

There is no shame. There is no debt. There is no salvation by deeds. He paid it ALL. I really pray that people reading this begin to accept the implications of God’s limitless love and mercy, especially the freedom that comes with it. If you feel blocked by sexuality, vanity, anger, unfaithfulness, unforgiveness, sex, go to Him with honesty. You’ve said he doesn’t exist? Mocked Christian followers? Paul persecuted them, go check the Epistles and see what happened next. David slept with a married woman and had her husband killed to make himself look less guilty. That same guy – central figure to our faith, predecessor of Jesus Christ, loved and prized by the Father. Peter denied Jesus three times, flick a few pages and he becomes the first head of the church. You can’t even imagine the work God will do in your lives when you present yourself before the throne, as you are. Symbolically swords are associated with the Word of God, which is a synonym for Jesus, but that’s another blog post. At the end of the day this simple truth is: He is all you need, but in Him lies so much love and power.

For those interested in the song:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=P4B_1RidJb8&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DP4B_1RidJb8

God bless and keep you always x

What are you saying? And what are you saying by what you’re saying? Matthew 15:11

“What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” (Matthew 15:11 NIV)

Often quoted but how often do we choose to live by this? We say we’ll try to be more loving and patient, verbally we want to be like Jesus. But it’s always worth reflecting how our thoughts and actions reflect our progress? What is the tone and language that you use to get points across? When people talk to you do they explicitly comment on feeling encouraged or happy when you’re around?

Ephesians 4:29 “Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good” (AMP). On the face of it this is a verse that my cousin gave me to prove I have to stop swearing. She was right. But delve deeper. The verse doesn’t discourage foul language for the sake of it. It isn’t legalistic because God just felt like saying it but because our words carry the power to cause great harm when they aren’t said in a spirit of love or righteousness.

Surely everything we say can’t be said in such a spirit? If my mum asks me to do the washing up is that necessarily loving? Yes and no. On one hand she may be asking me to alleviate something my grandma would otherwise do, on the other she might just not feel like it. But that bit isn’t our responsibility. My reply on the other hand is. In politely saying “sure”, I’m honouring my parent. In doing it and not moaning, in being positive and doing a decent job on the plates I am glorifying God, I’m not complaining, I’m being obedient and I’m doing things as well as they can be done. I know she’s going to put this into practice now because I’m not one for washing the dishes, but you get the point. Furthermore, if Christ dwells within us, what would such coarse language be doing coming out of our mouth. God lives inside of us, we can’t be doing things that pollute His temple, it’s so wrong in the face of everything that He has given us. God gives us the tools to do so much but there must be intention in us to strive to be obedient, to strive to reflect His love and beauty.

“How we undertake a task tells an awful lot about us. Our identity, mindset, experience and creativity are all evidenced in the life that we bring to each assignment. So too is our attitude, our demeanour and our standing in God. Our identity comes to the surface when we engage in any enterprise. Our doubt reveals the current state of our being” Graham Cooke

God bless and keep you always x

Mid-week blues, Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV

I’m not quite sure why we only focus on Mondays as a day that no one really wants to face. I’d counter that Wednesdays are just as bad. You’ve reached mid-week and if you look backwards or forwards there’s work separating you and the weekend. Sometimes your loved ones won’t appreciate the levels of exhaustion you feel from the demand of work and traveling. Maybe you’re in a new job or doing a brand new course and it’s just all a bit overwhelming.

But we are never working alone.

God can grant us rest and peace in even the most stressful situations when we ask it in faith. The difference time out for prayer or even acknowledging what He’s already done without you asking, can be so great. Often God works or is working but the Enemy has us still feeling down in the dumps believing his lies and confusion. If you’re at work, in the office, at school, just pop outside and command in the name of Jesus that you will not be broken but renewed through His blood, strengthened in Him, lighter because of the rest that He has given you.

Have faith in The Lord your God at all times, He never abandons us nor leaves us to suffer when we feel the challenge up ahead is just too large. At all times remember that God is goodness & love, by nature and definition, and that will influence how we see everything from and towards Him.

God bless and keep you x

Dash way unuh worryin, Matt 6:32-34

I am really tired. I don’t exercise the old prophetic gift often enough and did so about a half hour before I wrote this. I forgot how much it tires me out and I won’t be waking up until around noon, so let’s get this show on the road. Asap.

Today’s assignment: look at Matthew 6:32-34. For all the worriers, independence-lovers and over-thinkers, this is your verse.

“Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

As Christians we believe in a God who knows everything. We say that’s He’s omniscient: that He knows all that has happened, is happening and will happen; and yet we try our utmost to control our situations.

Why, when He knows our needs?

God delights in you. I’m not going to count how many times it says that in the Bible, but it’s a regular term because it’s TRUE. It isn’t accidentally dropped into an epistle or something. Your Father really values, loves and cares for YOU. From that moment in the Garden of Eden we were created in His image, gifted with dominion and even after the Fall clothed by Him in our shame. Everything in between then and now also happens to be a pretty good indicator of His love for us. Why then would the God in control of all things, who knows all things allow for calamity to ensue?

“He WILL give you all you need from day to day”

He is awesome. He is love. And He is ours. Clothe yourself in the warmth of His love, exalted in the Word, empirically evident in our own lives.

God bless and keep you always x

Praiseworthy, Psalm 147:1-20

Quite understandably Psalm 147 begins “Praise The Lord!” and goes on to list the wonderful qualities of our Father. “He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name…The Lord supports the humble, but He brings the wicked down into dust” (147:3-4, 6).

Immediately we are reminded that we belong to a God of comfort and healing, a Father who releases the downtrodden, who frees the oppressed (Luke 4:18-19), who blesses and comforts the poor in spirit (Matt 5:3). We worship the God who created the universe and everything in it, whose omniscience allows Him to call the stars by name! Our God who is more than worthy of praise is the God of justice. Not only does He promise to carry out such works, but He deeply disdains the carrying out of injustice. Note that both lying and bearing false witness are in the Ten Commandments. From God’s first laws to man, He displayed His nature to be one of righteousness. And as Christians we should seek the same. I’d recommend Proverbs 6:16-19 which goes into some detail of traits that fall under the not-so-just bracket.

The God of Psalm 147 is praised for His providence, His omnipotence and revelation. We belong to the Living God. That means when you need help, ask and you’ll receive; that means He will use you for things, He works through people and with people because He is very much present in our lives. The God of Psalm 147 “hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against His freezing cold? Then, at His command, it all melts” (147:17-18).

When we begin to note God’s character, let alone things that He has done for us, you can’t help but praise Him! His very nature is awesome to behold and He wants you to live with Him, for all eternity, in loving joyful companionship. Get out the trumpets and tambourines.

This is what praise is. Sometimes praise and worship songs can feel a bit wishy-washy or they have people moving, but to pretty meaningless lyrics. Worship is truly revering the nature of God, praising Him in all His glory. It’s communicating your love, awe and excitement towards the God who formed you and this very universe, who is in control of everything, whose being is Joy and Justice and Love and Compassion. When we start to know and understand these parts of God you go from seeing Him as Santa Claus to the real deal. The being worthy of praise in His own right, not because of what He can do for you.

Praise Him, He is so worthy of it.

God bless and keep you always x

Why don’t people like the Church? Hebrews 13:1-21

Hebrews 13:1-21

To be quite frank, a lot of people who don’t like Christians, (some, not all), have come into contact with Christians that they felt gave them reason to. Some people are just ignorant. The stereotype of the judgemental Christian, the Hypocrite, the Haranguer aren’t fables, but pretty visible and all too detrimental to the image of the body of Christ. Jesus spoke to immoral and moral men alike, gave and received from prostitutes, criminals and self-righteous and proud men. At times he did this with righteous indignation, but at others Jesus acted with great humility and compassion. As Christians we have the responsibility to reflect these characteristics with people that we come into contact with. If we’re realistic, this is not a side of Christianity that enough people, believers and non-believers, speak of. We are intended to be the light and salt of the earth (Matt 5:13-16), so clearly we have some work to do.

So, if we aren’t already, what is it that we should be doing?

“Keep on loving each others as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it! Remember those who are in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies” (Hebrews 13:1-3).

I don’t treat everyone like they’re my younger brother. I’m not protective, loving and playful to everyone that I come into contact with. Yet this is what we are called to do. The second part of the verse is asking us to truly empathise, not ignore, not patronise, not pity but really put ourselves in their shoes. Why? Firstly, the supreme authority Jesus said so, so you know…

“If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much! … Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:32-36).

Christians and non-believers are not the same. Surprise ! If someone reaches those pearly gates, is judged for their actions and didn’t know Jesus you’d better believe that they’ll be in a better position than the person who knew better but let sin and immorality control their motivations. The motivation of the soft heart is a valuable gift to those to whom it comes naturally, and an important prayer request for the rest of us. Don’t be able to repeat these things, or adages to the same value, but not practise them, what good is that to anyone?

We are all God’s creation and even those who don’t believe, were created by Him. The Living God made man to be stewards of His creation, to look after, lead, protect and care for it. As stewards we should strive to love and take care of others with the same intensity and depth that we would our physical siblings.

Unsurprisingly opportunities for resentment can appear from time to time. We can see others with wealth but think it’s unfair because they’re not righteous. We may see a person even in a position in our church or life groups and feel envious of them. The Bible says “be satisfied with what you have” (13:5). At the end of the day God is in control of your life, resenting your situation equates to resenting what God is doing with it, instead of noting the gifts and opportunities He may be making way for.

“For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (13:5-6)

He will NEVER fail you, God has you 100% covered. Every Christian lives in the blessed position of being reliant on the Eternal Father, whose very nature is loyalty and love. The Father who listens to your prayers, who seeks out a relationship with you, who gifted you with ETERNAL salvation. We have a lot to be happy about, even when things appear to be unappealing, we must never allow a chasm for the Enemy to sow seeds of anger and resentment. As the verse says, our Father, our dad, is the Living, intervening, caring, just God – WHAT is there to fear? The position of the Christian is like no other, there is no better place than it.

I see an awful lot of complaining coming from Christians, about other Christians, on social media. Firstly, I find it inappropriate, Paul labours the point of not arguing and belittling Christianity in front of non-believers so no Christian should be doing so. Simple. There is a key difference between trying to address issues in the hopes of building up the Church and prattling on about what you don’t like about Christians, undermining the unified body that you belong to. Secondly, I think a lot of it is short-sighted. A lot of people speak out pride and self-righteousness, vilifying those doing positive things and usefully forgetting John 8 (the story of the woman caught in adultery). For those with the aforementioned selective amnesia let me paraphrase the story: woman gets caught in the act of adultery, crowd want to stone her, Jesus says whoever is without sin let them throw the first stone, and off everyone disappears. Don’t like that bit of scripture, cool, let’s try Matthew 7:1-6, headed DON’T JUDGE OTHERS.

Your intentions will colour the words that you say, if not dictate them. “But the words you speak come from the heart – that’s what defiles you” (Matt 5:18). When you desire what God desires, when your motivations are goodness and love, your advice or constructive criticism for the church body and others will be healthy and beneficial. I don’t think the alternative needs further going into. Our lives on this earth are going to be judged one day, and even without that hanging over your head, when you came to God you received plentiful gifts, shouldn’t you get to sharing some of that with other people?

“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come. Therefore, let us offer Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.” (13:14-16)

God bless and keep you always x

In it for the long run, Colossians 2:7

“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (Col 2:7)

People within, and outside of, Christianity tend to think that you get baptised and you’re a Christian. Maybe you read your bible a few times but you took on the name, you’ve done your bit, simple.

People… have been misinformed. In the book of Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-23). Jesus tells of the sower whose seeds befall four separate destinies: the first lot “fell along the path” and were eaten by birds (Matt 13:4), the next fell on rocky terrain (13:5) and couldn’t embed their roots, the penultimate were choked by thorns (13:7) and the last grew healthily in the good soil (13:8).

You don’t become a Christian and that’s it, easy life until the gates of heaven open forth for you. Instead Jesus presents the reality of results that will follow from people hearing the Word, some of whom we can be quick to celebrate as being “saved”. In the parable those who hear and don’t understand the Word enough to follow it are the seed sown along the path. Their ears are hardened to the Truth. The seed amongst the rocks symbolise those who since they have no root, lasting only a short time in the Word; when faced with trouble or persecution, they don’t want to play anymore. The seeds amongst the thorns are those who hear but move onto obsessions of self pursuit and personal gain, choked in their growth. The good soil being self explanatory. In essence, saying “I’m a Christian now” is by no means the end of the road.

The flesh is weak, relationships are influential and sin is all too familiar. An oft-quoted verse to new believers is “bad company corrupts good morals” for the very reason that such relationships can pull you from your walk with God. As he often seemed to be doing, in Colossians, Paul is advising yet another church on the wisdom of being sufficient in Jesus alone. No pagan rituals, no Jewish traditions, just the Son. It isn’t enough for us to smile and nod at this truth. If we don’t think about it, remind ourselves of it, live by it, whats to stop us falling on those ill-fated terrains? When the going gets tough if Jesus is not my rock, what am I going to maintain a relationship for?

The life of the Christian is not a simple one but it is not a lonely one nor a self-reliant one. There will be times of weakness, of tests, of hardship, and for your own personal growth and endurance make Him your everything. Gain your strength from Him for it will be strength like no other, gain your courage from the Word because it will calm all anxiety in you, pray and petition and get to know Christ who gave His life for you and you will quite literally be filled with nothing but thanksgiving. Christianity is so much more than songs and a church service, than reading a book out of obligation. And the head of the church is all you need. The only way to the Father is through the Son (John 14:6), so what you waiting for?

God bless and keep you always x

Have you ever loved someone, so much you thought you’d die? Matthew 6:24

“Have you ever loved someone, so much you thought you’d die? Given so much of yourself, it seems the only way, tell me what you want and I and I will give it to you…”

I can hold solid conversation on faith, football and new jack swing, if you don’t know, well now you know (I’m finished). So I was listening to this yesterday and actually paid attention to the lyrics. The lead singer was FIFTEEN YEARS OLD at the time – dramatic much? But jokes aside he was expressing things that people genuinely think and feel. It can feel like you’re giving your entirety to someone and are just spent, doing whatever you can to please them to the extent that you’re left feeling drained. This is plain wrong because even when we’re in love and give ourselves over to the only man we should do, we experience continual joy, continual peace and continual security. But men AND women idolise their partners, family, friends, and then when it all goes awry they’re left broken, in crisis.

Often when we think of idolatry we think quite literal stuff: steer clear of other gods, polytheistic/ new wave ideas, materialism etc. But we rarely look at it beyond the skin deep. What’s the idol in your life? If your life and your thoughts and your actions and your joys don’t revolve around God what do they revolve around? What thing comes out of your mouth more than talk of your Father? What thing do you need to address?

Sometimes we need to step back from things and have a look at ourselves. Spending copious amounts of time on our presentation is idolatrous. That does not mean don’t buy new clothes, don’t wear make up or don’t get your hair done. But committing a large amount of time to perfecting yourself is vanity and self-love, let’s be honest. You’ve gone from preening yourself to narcissism and the consequences are not pretty.

God can’t come second to your girlfriend. You give your all to Him not her. Stop talking your friend’s ear off about her/him, chill with acting like they’re the only person on the planet. They’re not; yeah they’re cool but you don’t seem this excited about God and He kinda gave His Son as a perfect sacrifice for your eternal life, but whatever…

Until you know what it is to be loved by Him and trust in Him, and Him alone, chances are your relationship or the fallout from it is going to be pretty unhealthy anyway. When we know what love from God is, it also means we can have a framework for what love ought to look like. I don’t mean the perfect guy and the perfect wedding we see in chick flicks because setting yourself up for that dream is pretty idolatrous in itself, rather it gives you the opportunity to gauge things that are attractive in a christ-like, biblical light. In the way God intended us to love and be loved.

Further, loving God first and truly basking in the fact that He loves you, means that if a person lets you down your world won’t end, because He is the only being that will never hurt, never disappoint, never manipulate… at the end of the day the rest of us are fallible.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matt 6:24).

We are here to serve our God and His creation, to be stewards in this world and light in a place of real darkness. That’s more than just some imagery and anything continually distracting you from this ought to be evaluated.

God bless and keep you always x

The Beatitudes, part two, Matt 5:2-12

The Beatitudes

“This is what he taught them:

“God blesses those who realise their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are gentle and lowly, for the whole earth will belong to them.
God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice,
for they will receive it in full.
God blesses those who are merciful for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heavens is theirs.
God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted too.” (Matt 5:2-12)

Reading the Beatitudes last night I got to “God blesses those who are hungry and thirsty for justice, for they will receive it in full/be filled (NIV)” (5:6) and I realised I have an amazing visual aid in one of my closest friends. It is pretty much impossible to bring up social issues without him responding with sincerity & genuine passion on the need for reformation and understanding, rather than people assuming that they know what’s best, or worse still ignoring the plights of those less fortunate. This is a glimmer of part of the nature of the person you will meet in heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is explicitly repeated in this chapter and it isn’t for effect. To enter into heaven we need to have these qualities, to be more Christ-like we need to take on seeing the world through the loving, comforting and active eyes of Christ. One of the simplest prayers that you can pray is: “Lord, share your burden with me. May the things that hurt your heart hurt ours and invoke us to action, may the love you see in all of your creation be made visible to us.” The battle for truth, righteousness and justice is of God but Jesus demonstrated it whilst He was here on earth too. Jesus wants us to comfort the homeless, love those left on society’s fringes, speak out for the truth and to not be false witnesses. And how does he encourage us to do so….He sets the precedent!

In the same vein: don’t bare grudges (5:7). The God that you belong to is willing to erase everything wrong that you ever did. And you did it to Him! Undeniably, no opportunity for miscommunication, or subjective interpretations, you sinned against God. Repeatedly. But out of His eternal love He grants you forgiveness and is merciful. Pass that on…God didn’t hold onto the fact that for a lot of your life you worshipped your girlfriend more than Him or you used to treat people with coldness and a deep sense of jealousy. If He can do that for the entire population of the world, I think you can choose to let go off some stuff, no?

The judgement you treat a person with will be exercised against you, so be “merciful” in your treatment of others so that “God’s mercy towards you will win out over His judgement against you” (James 2:13). A LOT of people struggle with forgiveness, no one with an ounce of common sense would claim forgiving an abusive parent or partner is easy and God gives us the grace to really push through such occurrences. But there are so many smaller ways that we can be merciful, not arguing back or getting wound up is preemptive of having to actively forgive someone. Immediately addressing a conflict in as civil and considerate a way as possible instead of obsessing over being the one to make the first move is merciful. Mercy and love, not judgement, is responsible for a lot of transformation in the Bible, look at Zacchaeus or even Peter!

“God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (5:8). I don’t know how often on road you see God, but I’m willing to bet that it isn’t that frequently…Nobody’s perfect but that isn’t what this means. Rather, the pure in heart are those who act without thought to what they can gain, more in line with our understanding of selflessness. Imagine coming into contact with a person, who NEVER thought of themselves and how they’d be affected in the pursuit of righteousness. The next couple verses go onto the persecution you will face in the name of Jesus, but such a person would still willingly choose this path rather than worry about what they’d stand to lose or gain. Martyrs have existed since Stephen, Paul and Peter and exist to this day. In Turkey in 2007, whilst holding a bible study for new Christians three missionaries were tortured for hours and finally killed. When their wives spoke to the media they spoke of the joy and love that would have got their husbands through it and how they would have suffered wilfully. These men didn’t deny Jesus, they didn’t try to get themselves out of the predicament by negotiating and lying, but left such an amazing example of selflessness. Aim for this, strive for this, for you will see God.

Blessed are the “peacemakers”. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, by that alone we should strive to be peaceful and harbour peace in the relationships we see around us. But there’s a real sense of agency in this verse. The Lord blesses those who attempt to cultivate peace between God and man. When you help or pray or intercede on the behalf of others, on whatever scale, you are working towards peace for God’s creation and this pleases Him to no end. I don’t know the level of antagonism you encounter daily but for some of us this is a pretty tall order, for others it occurs on more of a macro scale. But seek it out, true peace is of God so in spreading the gospel we seek to unify people to knowing this peace and reflecting it.

Matthew 5:10-12 brings in the final beatitude: “God blesses those who are persecuted because they live for God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses you when you are mocked and persecuted and lied about because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted, too.”

I don’t think I need to break that one down for you, but isn’t it an epic point to finish with. Have a lovely Sunday x