Category: Matthew

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:9).

Jesus is a peacemaker.

Peace between God and Man.

Peace between Man and Man.

Peace that passes all understanding, yet guards our hearts and minds.

The world is not at peace this morning–just look at your news feed. Yet the Son of God is calling you to follow in his footsteps today. Take a good look at the day ahead of you.  What potential conflicts are waiting at work? What person will likely push your buttons and make you twitch? What raging interpersonal storms do you get to sail into?

These are all opportunities.

Oh, I know they don’t feel like opportunities.  Except perhaps opportunities to practice your stress management mantra and work on finding your Happy Place.  But they are, in fact, opportunities to walk as Jesus did—to be a peacemaker.

Will you take the opportunity today, Beloved?  Will you be a child of God? Will you stuff your pride and walk in grace and humility?

I know it’s hard.

Will you do it anyway?

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8).

Your heart is not pure.

You will not see God.

Happy Monday.

Well, aren’t we glad that there’s more to the story than that.  Of course your heart is not pure; you know good and well what goes on in there.  I’m in the same boat, and so is everyone you know. And everyone you don’t.

Praise God that he doesn’t leave us in that boat.

God wants us to see him.  He wants us to have fellowship with him.  And he knows that is not going to happen if we’re left to ourselves.  So he cleanses us, he renews us, he gives us that pure heart that allows us to see him.

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Before you go out into your Monday, do yourself a favor—get your heart right before God.  Confess what needs confessing, address what needs addressing, let him purify your heart.

Then get ready to see.

Happy Monday, Beloved.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy (Matthew 5:7).

I need mercy like you wouldn’t believe.

Well, maybe you would.

I mean, I’m not an axe-murderer or anything.  I’ve never run over an old lady while driving drunk in a car I stole from an orphanage. It’s just that I know what God requires, I know my heart, and I know that without the mercy of God I wouldn’t make it to my next breath.  So when I read this verse, I get really practical. Actually, I get a little mercenary. Or mercy-enary. I figure it like this: I give and I get.

As self-serving as that sounds, I think it makes me more merciful. When I see a need, I think of all the times I have needed mercy. And all the times I will.  And I’m more likely to give. I guess you could call it making a deposit in the mercy bank.

That is one account I never want to see overdrawn.

Think you might need mercy one of these days?

Then walk in mercy today, Beloved.

Happy Friday

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Father, grant me the hunger that only you can satisfy,

the thirst that only you can quench.

Create in me an emptiness that you alone can fill.

Sometimes I think I’m complete

but I’m not;

I’m just crowded.

Father of all desire

let me crave

You.

Happy Thursday, Beloved

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).

Let’s not read too much into this, shall we?

I doubt that Jesus was literally promising you the world.  Really—what would you do with it if you had it? A town, certainly, maybe even a small state—but the entire world?  Come now. And what about that woman down the street, or the guy at work; do they also inherit the earth? How do we do the sharesies on that one? Jesus is teaching that those who walk with God will have all their needs completely met.  The earth and all that is in it are the Lord’s, and he gives joyfully to those who are his.

On another note, “Meek” is not the same as “Weak.”  When we read this verse, it’s easy to get the picture of these mousy, quiet, timid little oatmeal-eating people running the world someday.  It makes you wonder how anything would ever get done. “Meek,” in the biblical sense, means to be humble and gentle before God and man. A meek person trusts God to provide for him, and doesn’t feel the need to push and shove in order to get what is his.  One who trusts God, fully and completely, isn’t worried about the other guy. He has nothing to prove and no one to beat. He can afford to be gentle.

So, Beloved, will you walk in meekness today?  There may be a small county in it for you.

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted (Matthew 5:4).

It’s good to mourn.

Oh maybe not good in the sense of, “Woohooo, my heart is breaking, I’ve lost everything I love—let’s get ice cream and cheesy puffs!”

Not good in that sense.

Good in the sense that it’s a natural part of who we are.  It’s healthy; it shows that we love. After all, we do not mourn that which we did not love.

God mourns.  Jesus mourned Jerusalem (Matt. 23:37).  He wept at the grave of Lazarus. I believe that the Father mourns those who choose to live and die apart from him. When we mourn, we show that we are made in his image.  We reveal the stamp of our Creator.

And when we mourn, we are comforted.

There’s the promise.  The God of all peace, all healing, all love, stands ready to comfort us in our loss.  And that comfort outweighs our pain.

Eventually.

So, once again God invites us to be vulnerable and rest in his protection, to be weak and draw on his strength, to be empty and let him fill us, to be broken and allow him to restore.

When we are weak, he is strong—in us and through us.

What have you lost, Beloved?  What do you mourn?

Walk in his comfort today.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law (Matthew 7:28-29).

It’s like taking a lecture from the guy who wrote the book.

No…

It’s like taking a lecture from the guy who wrote the book, developed the concept upon which the book was written, grew the tree from which the paper was made on which the book was written, developed the language in which the ideas for the book were communicated, and created the universe in which ideas, communication, trees, books, and people exist.

Yeah… I think he’s worth listening to.

Happy Friday, Beloved.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash (Matthew 7:27).

It’s terrible when houses fall.

It’s worse when lives fall.

Don’t fall, Beloved.

Happy Thursday

But everyone who hears these words of mine but does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand (Matthew 7:26).

…but does not put them into practice…

Wouldn’t wanna let that slip by, would we?

It’s the end of the semester.  A twelve-year-old student stands in front of me, eyes rimmed with panic, and asks, “What can I, like, do to, like, you know, raise my grade?”

“Easy,” I respond.  “Build a time machine, travel back a few months, and do the things I told you to do then.”

I have a tendency toward sarcasm.  It’s not always helpful.

As a teacher and a father and a brother and a friend I’ve dispensed a load of advice over the years.  Most of it was solid.  Much of it was ignored.  There are few things as frustrating as handing someone the solution to their problem, wrapped up with a metaphorical bow, and then see them walk away and toss it in the metaphorical trash can.  You know the feeling, because you’ve been there yourself.

I’ve also received plenty of excellent advice over the years, much of which I’ve ignored.  That’s not nearly as satisfying to talk about, however, so I’m not going to.

Good, godly advice is a treasure not to be wasted.  And there is no gooder, godlier advice than that which comes from our good God.  His words are life; what say we live them today?

Happy Wednesday, Beloved.