Blogging Through The Gospels: Matthew 5

Welcome back, everyone! :) Today's chapter I read was Matthew 5, the first chapter of three that record Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. There are so many good lessons I don't know where to start! For review, Matthew 5 covers the Beatitudes, and many other subjects such as fulfilling the law, murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, going the extra mile, loving your enemies, and being a light unto the world. Good stuff! All I can say is...Jesus' sermons are never boring!

Remember how in the past few days I've mentioned how remarkable it is that Matthew points out how Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecy? Well, keeping that thought I really liked verse 17 today:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

I thought it was really cool that here I've been reading time and time again throughout Matthew how Jesus fulfills prophecy, and then Jesus Himself comes right out and says it!

There's some other great stuff that I just must share with you before I get onto my SOAP! First of all, Jesus has some great advice for us. Here's some of my favorite quotes from Matthew 5:

• "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." (verse 16) 

I love this verse. Jesus is talking about letting our light shine, doing good things and while doing that being a good witness for Him. Of course, we need to be careful to not appear all "stuck up and holy" when we do our "good deeds"...check out the first few verses of Matthew 6 for more explanation!  

• "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No'; anything beyond that comes from the evil one." (verse 37)

I also thought this verse had some power. Don't lie, maliciously say something, or make something appear as it isn't. When you tell the truth, all the time, you have nothing to hide or fear. Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No', 'No'!

Side note, but I've known this verse for a long time. Or, part of it. I hadn't known before today about the "anything beyond that comes from the evil one" part, which now I realize is very important. I think it is very important when we hear a verse (or as the case may be, partial verse) quoted, we need to check the Bible for ourselves to see the context. Then we can see what the writer or speaker meant. 

Anyway. On to my third and final verse before our daily cleaning with SOAP! 

• "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (verses 43-45)

This is a hard one. Really hard one. Naturally, we don't want to love our enemies. Far from it! But Jesus says we should. And you know, it does make sense. When we love everybody, we are happy and at peace. When we think about our enemies, we brood and get angry and get stressed! I wonder if Jesus had some of Solomon's proverbs in mind as he spoke about loving your enemies: 

• "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." (Proverbs 14:30)
• "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." (Proverbs 17:22)

Could it be perhaps that if we like everyone and have less/no enemies that we're happier and live longer??

OK. Onto my daily SOAP! Those verses were so cool and meant so much to me, I just had to share them with you! Today's SOAP comes from the Beatitudes. My father once told me of a speaker that called them the Be-attitudes, as in, these are the attitudes we should have. Good thought, isn't it??

Scripture: 

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

Observation:

I just love this promise! Do you see what it really says? Go read it again. When people--just like you and me--hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be filled! And that's a fact! 

Application:

I don't know about you, but I certainly hunger and thirst for more righteousness. I certainly don't have enough! I just think that this is such an awesome promise. Application? I can claim this promise, believe God has given more righteousness to me, and be happier! And He will give more righteousness to me--His promises never fail.

Prayer:

Dear God, thank You so much for giving me the opportunity to read this passage again. Thank You for once again reminding me of Your wonderful advice and promises. I claim this promise of Matthew 5:6, and I thank You in advance for giving me more righteousness because I know that Your promises never fail. Thank You so much for being the awesome God that you are. Amen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.S.--To learn more about this blogging-through-the-gospels program, or if YOU would like to join yourself (you're more than welcome-jump right in!!) click here.