Tuesday, June 30, 2015

In our last visit I shared how a word mentioned 4 times in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 opened up a new perspective to understanding what Jesus was saying. It was the insight word “secret.” What Jesus said about how to give to the needy, how to pray and how to fast in Matthew 6 is the way we should look at all of life. Too often we look at the visible actions that characterize Christian living and forget that God is looking at what is going on in secret. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” He was focusing on humility of heart – the opposite of pride or arrogance. When He said, “Blessed are those who mourn,” it was in contrast to the professional mourners that were hired to mourn over the death of a loved one. He was affirming those who saw their own shortcomings and felt bad about it. Others might not see that going on in your heart, but God not only sees it, He blesses you. “Blessed are the meek,” is seen by God as someone who doesn’t display their own strength or prowess, but rather holds it under control, or hides it. God sees this and blesses you. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,” but don’t display this hunger and thirst as a means of showing how spiritual they are. God sees that they are humbled and acknowledge their lack of righteousness, but inwardly long for it to increase. God blesses them by satisfying their longing. Seeing these qualities from this inner, “secret” perspective helps you to understand why God would bless