Matthew 5:3 & 4 NLT 3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Amplified 3Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous–with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! 4Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!
What kind of picture is being painted here?
Poor mourners are the picture of the true Christian life!
Hang on everyone, no need to send any more reminder emails (I do appreciate them, really I do), I will have our outline/notes up later this evening. It’s not like any of you really read or study, do you?
What a wonderful problem, people longing to study together.
To predict the behavior of ordinary people in advance, you only have to assume that they will always try to escape a disagreeable situation with the smallest possible expenditure of intelligence.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
No bible study this week. As hectic as this day can be, keep the proper perspective. Focus on giving thanks to God. May we all find rest and comfort in the Lord, while giving Him all the praise and glory.
Cool, this commercial brings back some memories of my first Creepy Crawler experience. I use to love lying on our linoleum floor for hours making spiders, centipedes, beetles, & little skeletons. What is really cool is that they have reintroduced the Creepy Crawler and my seven-year-old son and I sit for yes hours making lizards, spiders and worms.
It is magical to watch my son make a creature and to see him glow with wonder and excitement when we pop it out of the mold. He sits ever so patiently, for the opportunity to hold his creation for the first time. As each of his little rubber creatures come out he will sit and marvel at how unique each one is. He goes, “dad look at this ones colors and the little bumps, look this bug has a small line in it just above its left leg”. He examines each bug he creates, not looking for the imperfections, but to see what makes each one different (unique) from all the other bugs he has created.
As I watched my son process each creation, I saw through his eyes how God looks at all of us. Taking the time to know us and to the see what it is that makes each of us unique to Him.
Having a hard time seeing God, watch the children and see Him through their little eyes!
Richard Mouw offers up some very sound principles for all of us to heed.
He writes, “I once heard an evangelical leader speak out against a certain group with whom we evangelicals have significant disagreements. I happened to have studied this group’s teachings in considerable detail, so I listened very carefully to how he made his case against them. Much of what he said was on target, but at one point he seriously misrepresented what the group believed. Continue Reading »
The Taste of Salt Mt 5:13, 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor (savour-JK)? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
