Matthew 51-12 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying: "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. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
What is the struggle? This seems to be a love letter from Jesus himself, simply encouraging us to keep going. The struggle I have with it is that at times myself and I believe others simply do not believe what we just read. Working with teens I see heart breaks daily. I could post facebook status' that say the following: Need a girl, single, bored looking for something to do, text it, and on and on. You might ask what this has to do with what Jesus is talking about, it's simple we as adults are the ones who teach this to our kids. Really what it comes down to is that have a difficult time believing and we are not honest about it.
I have a young man that has been in my group for a couple of years. He was saved at camp and I have blogged about him a few times and I have also been praying for him. Long story short with out going into details the last couple of months have been not so good for him. Today he was at my office and we were talking about things. As he was talking I had to stop him and tell him that he was blessed. As he goes through these trials in his life it brings an opportunity for him to grow closer to God.
I started feeling convicted because I am amazed at how much I struggle to and that I complain about things that really do not matter. When you sit and think about the that the Blood of Jesus has bought my ticket to heaven and this bad day or trial will not be able to take that ticket and now allow access into the kingdom. WOW! When our life becomes a lifestyle of worship and not just a life of consuming we start to see something change.
I started thinking about the stupid things we say in life... things like, big time christian artist or big time speaker?? Really having a huge following is what makes you big time?? Where in the world do you read that at? I am searching for it and I can find it. Could it be that we simply take what is God and start to twist it around to make it more popular and attractive? When I see the poor and spirit, I must be honest I take pity on them. Am I wrong?? I don't know but from what I can read they are blessed.
I believe there is nothing wrong with success or dreams. At the same time I believe we need to be realistic that success doesn't always look pretty and dreams do not always come true. This is because we live in a broken world and we are in need of a Savior. I NEED a God that says Yes, Not now, and No. I need a God that allows all things to be ripped away from me so I can see that I am in need of him. I need God to show me pictures of Children who are starving, who struggle in the area of education, who have family problems, and etc. Why do I need that? Because God knows that is how he gets my attention. I am in need of a God who loves but allows me to experience this world and the pain that comes with it.
God continue to work in my life and continue to show me who you really are.
No comments:
Post a Comment