Today, not only did I read my devotional by Millie Stamm, I listened to a lesson given by my pastor, Pastor Kevin Schmidt of Grace Baptist (a fundamental Baptist church). He covered Matt. 5:3-8 which, as most of you know, are the first six verses of the Beatitudes. As I listened with an opened heart, for this is what I prayed for before my lesson, I realized that, even though I have accepted the Lord, I still have a lot of work to do on improving my heart to make me acceptable in the presence of God, and I must do it now...today, right at this moment.
Most of us think the same way. As long as I accept Jesus, live a good life, pray at supper and go to church on Sunday morning, I am good. After all, I am a flawed human. What can God expect? The answer to that burning question is: EVERYTHING! We can find what is expected of us in the book of Matthew, specifically Matt. 5:1-12, or as it is commonly known as The Beatitudes.
We are only going to study the first five verses today. So here we go.
vs 3: Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Let's look at the phrase 'poor in spirit'. I used to believe that, because the word poor is used, this verse refers to those who have not received the Lord. This is as far from the truth as possible (and we all now that God's Word is the truth). The truth makes a lot more sense. 'Poor in spirit' actually means spiritually humble, or to put an even finer point on it, those who recognize that Jesus is the only way to get a clean heart.
vs 4: Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
This simply means those who are sensitive to sin, who realize that when we sin, we hurt God, will be blessed. We need to be aware of our actions and stop ourselves from hurting God, and ultimately ourselves.
vs 5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Meaning if we surrender to God, we shall inherit everything.
vs 6 Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst for righteousness;
For they shall be filled.
If we seek the Lord, our God, in the search of righteousness, we shall have everything that we need.
vs 7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
This one is not hard to decipher. If use show mercy to your fellow man, God will give you mercy.
We will wait to cover verse 8, for it is a long lesson, as well.
May God bless you and keep you always.
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