God doesn't like His children to get too comfortable in the world, and because he has blessed me with holy poverty, I was definitely led in that promise rather than exercising some pious notion. Thank you, Lord.

Holy Poverty is what monks and nuns and dedicated religious practice. Some of them are blessed with orders that provide the roof and pot of kasha on the table, but I am just an Anglican, in ordained orders, married and therefore outside the monastery wall! Poverty is indeed hard. It means that sometimes we have to make choices about eating or paying the rent. Sometimes the choice is just not eating and not paying the rent, until someone is moved to show up with a little help.

Someone rather cruelly said to me recently when I was explaining why I couldn't afford to do what someone wanted me to do, "Get a job!" but jobs for middle-aged, non-parochial priests are very scarce. As defenceless Christians, we can't take just anything that comes along, and let's face it, not everyone wants Plain people working for them. This is not a complaint, but an observation. If an employer is not moved in his or her heart to hire us (even if we are well qualified) then there is not much we can do about it. We are not called to take anyone to law over our rights.

Holy Poverty is a prophetic ministry. It is breaking a hole in the city wall; it is suffering down a well; it is going into captivity or spending the seasons far from home, because God sent you to do that. It is suffering along with the children of God, the poor. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of Heaven is theirs." (Matthew 5.) A person can be poor in goods but not poor in spirit if they resent their poverty and dream of grasping the goods of others. Holy Poverty is real poverty, but it is rich in Spirit. It is a life free of worldly distractions and avaricious climbing to get the next prize.

I believe that to experience the poverty of the Spirit, you must be poor in the goods of the world. It is not a matter of detachment in spirit, but a matter of real detachment. You don't own things. You don't look to own things. You don't hoard. You don't collect. You have only what you need and if you have a surplus, you look to share. We are physical creatures in a physical world. We can't live at some "spiritual" level unless our bodies are there, too. So the goods have to go.

There can be humiliation in this kind of poverty. We sometimes have to ask for help. Those who give are then blessed in the giving. Going to fellow Christians and asking them to share isn't that humiliating, though, when they give in goodness and generosity, as members of the family of God. The humiliation is when we have to turn to the State for help, guaranteed under law, and have to answer all the too-personal questions and face the inevitable sense of judgment. We get to experience this so that we can understand what other poor people live through. We will manage to find work soon, since we have job skills and contacts. (Hiring is slower and more complicated than it used to be.) Some people will never find suitable work, because they lack education, or skills, or a network to help them. "Get a job" is incredibly humiliating when you know there is no job out there for you.

Remember the poor, in thy giving and in thy prayers. It may be thee some day who turns to thy fellows for help and succour.

Mt 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy is not a word that is often used in modern living. Justice, maybe, but not mercy. In the Bible mercy comes up at certain significant places: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (Hos 6:6) was God's call to His wayward people. Jesus chastised the hard hearted Pharisees with this same verse: “ go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mt 9:13) and again, “If you had known what these words mean, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.” (Mt 12:7). A blind beggar called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Lk 18:38). So what is mercy? Mercy is exercising a benign attitude towards another when all the circumstances would expect punishment or harm or judgement that fairness or justice would naturally demand. Yes, that is mercy; it is not something earned or deserved or warranted, it is just given.

Now something important to note here is that God is described in the Bible as merciful: “Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great” (2 Sam 24:14) and “the LORD your God is a merciful God ” (Deut 4:31 ) and “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36) That last verse shows why this is significant. God is a merciful God and He wants His children to be merciful. The most extreme act of God's mercy towards the human race is His sending Jesus to save us. We deserve death, we deserve punishment for our sins. God didn't have to send a substitute to carry our sins and our punishment. We didn't earn it, and we didn't deserve it. It was just something God just decided to do, an act of pure mercy. Can you see this, it is very important? You might say that love drives mercy, but otherwise in our natural thinking it is totally illogical. Justice demands we be destroyed, but God decides otherwise and makes His plans accordingly, which results in Jesus taking our sin so that justice is seen to be done, but the whole setting up the means of salvation is an act of pure mercy.

Now we are ready to consider our verse today. Having seen each additional beatitude as a further step in the process that opens the way for God to bring salvation to us, we should think of this verse similarly. What have we said were the steps so far? They are to recognize our spiritual poverty (v.3), to anguish over it (v.4), to be open to the will of God (v.5), and to yearn for God way of righteousness (v.6). Yes those are the steps. Now what we have in today's verse is a proof of a right heart attitude. We can say we are open to God's will and we can say we want to be righteous but there is a simple and practical expression of that right living: it is to live with the same attitude towards others that God has. When we come to Christ and are made aware, by the conviction of his Holy Spirit, of our sin and our failure, when that truly takes hold of us as the mourning indicates it does, at that point our sense of failure will mean that we will have no negatives towards any other person; all we will be aware of is our own failure, our own inadequacy, our own weakness. At that point we are willing to be utterly merciful in our attitudes towards others because we realize we have no grounds whatsoever to think ourselves better than any other person. It is in the midst of conviction that we become merciful; it is part of the process.

It is when God sees this attitude within us that He knows our heart change is genuine. Our becoming merciful is a proof that the Holy Spirit is having effect in us, and that is a sign that we are truly becoming ready to accept God's will, and accept His Holy Spirit into our lives. This is an initial sign that we are willing to become like our heavenly Father, to become His children. It is at that point that God exercises His mercy and all of the work of Jesus on the Cross is applied to us, not because we deserve it – because we don't – but simply because God in His love wants to bring it. Thus we receive mercy.

What is tragic is that, as we go on in the Christian faith, so many of us forget this phase in our salvation and start looking down on people. We become just like the judgmental Pharisees and think we are better than those who have not yet come to Christ, or better than those we perceive to be ‘less mature' than ourselves. We need to come back to this verse and remind ourselves of the basic truths here. If need be, reread this meditation and ensure you fully understand what is being said, and then ensure you apply it every day of your Christian life.

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

To catch the full import of this verse we need to recount the previous three verses and see this one in context. First there had been the requirement to recognize our spiritual poverty. Second, simply recognizing it was not sufficient, there had to be a mourning or grieving over it that showed we understood how awful being dead spiritually was. Third, and following that, there had to be a willingness to submit utterly to God's will, for nothing less than that could open the way up for His blessings to flow into our lives.

But now comes a further aspect of the same thing. If on one hand we saw and rejected our old lives, recognizing the failure to be good that there was in that life, what there also needs to be is a yearning for the good life, for a life that is good and right. Do you see the importance of these stages? You can be aware of your poverty and just wallow in that and remain there. You can see it and anguish over it but be unable to let go your self-centredness and so you stay there in it. You can be aware of your poverty, mourn over it and want God's will and yet only desire it for what it can bring you – and that is still self-centred.

To go the whole way you have to come to this point of submitting to God's will whole-heartedly and yearning for a right standing before God. That is what righteousness is – right standing before God, right living before God. Again, do you see the two aspects there? When we become aware of our poverty, aware of our failure, aware of our guilt, for the work to be fully done, there also needs to be a yearning to be freed from the guilt and shame and to be put right with God. In the awareness of our spiritual poverty there also needs to be the recognition that it involves sin against God. Do you remember in Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son, when the son returns to his father he declares, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” (Lk 15:21). When the Holy Spirit brings conviction it is not merely of our failure, but our failure in respect of God. As we realize that, we understand we have offended God and that needs to be put right. Somehow we need to be reconciled to God – but we cannot do it ourselves. It is only as we hear the good news of Jesus dying on the Cross in our place that we realize that the Father alone has provided the means for us to come back into a right standing with Him.

But there will also be a yearning to change our way of living, to get rid of things that offend God, and to live rightly before Him. Behind this hungering and thirsting, this heart yearning, there will also be this desire to lead a good life, a life free from sin. The New Testament shows us the nature of that life, and particularly the apostles' letters put detail to that, but the main thing we find, is that God provides His own Holy Spirit to live within us, so He is there to direct and guide us, to show us the way in any particular situation, He is there to empower us to enable us to overcome and live as God's child. Whether we recognize it or not when we look back, this is the work the Holy Spirit does in us when He convicts us of our need – a recognition of our poverty, an anguish over it, a desire for God's will and a desire to be put right with God so that we can live the life He wants us to live, as His children. Those are the facets of what goes on within any person as they come to God to be born again.

And this is where we come to the latter part of the verse: they shall be filled. When someone is hungry, they are empty. When their hunger is satisfied, they are filled. It is a picture of being completely satisfied. At the end of a banquet, people are heard to say, “That was wonderful, I am full up. I couldn't eat another thing!” And that's the truth; when God does His work in us He does it completely and there is nothing more to be added. Every aspect of what we have considered has been covered. From being poor isolated wretches we become children of God with all the blessings of God. Our mourning is turned into rejoicing. We rest and rejoice in coming into the purposeful will of God, where we sense a new purpose and direction in our lives. The yearning to be put right with God is completely satisfied as we are declared forgiven, cleansed and totally pardoned and, as the Holy Spirit comes in, we are energized to live the new life. We are filled, we are utterly satisfied. Yes, we are filled with the goodness of God and of His Holy Spirit as we submit ourselves to Him and let Him do what He wants with us. How wonderful when it happens, how scary for the person who wants to remain in their self-centred isolation!

Love is passive; it enables to suffer. A man that loves his friend will suffer anything for him rather than he shall be wronged... Love made our dear Lord suffer for us. ...So love will make its way to Christ through the prison and the furnace.

But all pretend love to Christ. How shall we know that we have such a love to him as will make us suffer? I answer: True love is a love of friendship, which is genuine and ingenuous when we love Christ for himself. There is a mercenary and meretricious love, when we love divine objects for something else. A man may love the queen of truth for the jewel at her ear, because she brings preferment. A man may love Christ for his 'head of gold’ (Canticles 5:11), because he enriches with glory. But true love is when we love Christ for his loveliness, namely, that infinite and superlative beauty which shines in him, as Augustine says, 'We love Jesus on account of Jesus’; that is, as a man loves sweet wine for itself.

True love is a love of desire, when we desire to be united to Christ as the fountain of happiness. Love desires union. The soul that loves Christ is ambitious of death because this dissolution tends to union. Death slips one knot and ties another.

True love is a love of benevolence, when so far as we are able we endeavour to lift up Christ’s name in the world. As the wise men brought him 'gold and frankincense’ (Matthew 2: 11), so we bring him our tribute of service and are willing that he should rise though it be by our fall. In short, that love which is kindled from heaven makes us give Christ the pre-eminence of our affection. ...Indeed we can never love Christ too much. We may love gold in the excess, but not Christ. The angels do not love Christ to his worth. Now when love is boiled up to this height, it will enable us to suffer. 'Love is strong as death’. The martyrs first burned in love, and then in fire.

]]> http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/?p=285 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 05:23:09 +0000 faithcatalyst http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/5-the-meek/ MEDITATIONS IN THE BEATITUDES - 5

Mt 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

‘Meek' and ‘meekness' are words rarely heard in the English language today and, indeed, the NIV only uses the word ‘meek' three times, one of which is in our verse today. The only time the word ‘meekness' is used is, “By the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you” (2 Cor 10:1). The NIV tends to use instead the words ‘gentleness' and ‘humble' though these don't convey quite the same meaning. A dictionary definition of ‘meek' is ‘humble and submissive' and therein is the key to this verse. For instance, older versions of the Bible translate Num 12:3 as “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.” When the modern versions say he was very ‘humble' they do not catch the particular characteristic of Moses that made him such a great man.

When we study Moses, one of the things that kept happening during his leadership of the new people of Israel, was that people grumbled or even rebelled. In every situation except one, Moses immediately turned to the Lord and submitted the problem to Him. This wasn't just humility, this was submissiveness to God. Similarly when Paul above refers to the meekness of Christ, he is referring to his example of being totally submitted to his Father's will.

Negatively, meekness is the absence of self-assertiveness and self-concern. Positively it is that acceptance of the will of God over all things. When people, as in Moses’ examples, rise up against us, the meek person simply goes to the Lord with the problem and accepts this as something the Lord has so far allowed to happen. Meekness is a characteristic of the prayer the believers prayed in Acts 4:23-30. They had just been threatened by the religious leaders and as they come to pray, they DON'T pray against those religious leaders, they simply acclaim the Lord's greatness (v.24-26) and then declared their acceptance of all that had happened as being God's will (v.27-28) and simply asked God to give them boldness to declare the Gospel while God would do signs and wonders (v.29,30). Observe that in all that they simply sought the Lord's will in all things. So how does this fit in with the previous beatitudes?

First there was the need for a recognition of our spiritual poverty, second there was the requirement that that be accompanied by a mourning or grieving for that spiritual poverty, and now third, there is the requirement of coming to a place of submitting totally to God's will. That surely is one of the primary requirements for a person to come to Christ, that they submit to God's way of salvation, through Christ on the Cross, and allow him to lead them from that time on. How simple those words: “allow him to lead them”. What does it mean? It means that Christ will lead us by his Holy Spirit to bring our lives in line with his Father's will. This means a change in character, a change in attitude, a change in desires, a change in goals, a change in behaviour. It is a complete submission to God's plan for our individual lives. As we go through life and upsets come, we turn to the Lord and ask, “What do you want here, Lord?” That is meekness.

But what about the second part of the verse? Inherit the earth? When we speak of an inheritance we mean something that is coming to us that has been left to us following the death of a family member. In this case, as a result of Jesus' death, it means all that is now ours as a result of what Jesus has achieved on the Cross (to see this more fully, go to the series of meditations that consider the effects of Jesus' work on the Cross). Now part of this, which many people miss, is that as a result of God's work of salvation in us, we start to enjoy living, we start to enjoy this world, in a completely new way. We start to appreciate life, we start to appreciate this world as God's wonderful provision for us.

“The earth” is shorthand for, everything God has provided for us on this planet. No longer are we struggling and striving to get pleasure, to achieve, to get on top of this world. Suddenly now, as we submit ourselves to God's perfect will for our lives, we start enjoying life in a new way. There is peace, harmony, contentment, enjoyment. As we come to rest in God's will we inherit life, new life, stress-free life, peaceful life, harmonious life, here and now. What a blessing! That all comes as we give ourselves to the Lord and to His will. That is meekness and that opens the doorway for God to bring to us the blessings of life in this world that He desires to bring. Enjoy!

]]> http://dripdripdrip.wordpress.com/?p=148 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 18:35:31 +0000 mark_s http://dripdripdrip.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/table-service-luke-1412-24/ Dear Miss Manners:

 

 I hosted one of those home shopping parties for a group of friends and had a very good turnout. However, one thing I noticed was that a close relative of mine didn't purchase anything.

 

Now, I know that you shouldn't feel obligated to buy anything at these functions. However, I have attended several home parties for her in the past, and I felt that it was discourteous not to support your host.

[At these parties, I think] that you should buy at least something since the host is supplying food and drinks.

 I have become confused on how I should handle the situation with the relative who didn't buy anything. Should I be annoyed and therefore not go to any of her forthcoming parties?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022602938.html

Gentle Reader:

 

“When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers, your relatives, or your rich neighbors.  If you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  (Luke 14:12-14)

 

Give me a break.  What kind of advice is that?  Don’t expect people to repay you but be assured of the resurrection of the righteous? 

 

Of course, Miss Manners didn’t give the above response.  The letter was a real letter, but the response was what Jesus said in Luke 14:12-14.

 

When you insert scripture into Etiquette for Everyday, it can seem out of place.  But it’s not – that’s the appropriate place for scripture to be, to inform us on how to live our lives, to answer the questions that we ask everyday.  We read the Bible not so much to learn more about God.  We read the Bible to actually meet God.  God gave us the scriptures not so that we will know the right answers but so that we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will live the right answer. And the answer is Jesus.  The Bible is less a book to be read than a script to be performed.

 

That's why I'm so happy that our youth are considering this new direction for our Valentine's Banquet.  I believe that it is a direct, practical application of what Jesus is saying in Luke, chapter 14.

 

After Jesus described guest list etiquette in the kingdom of God, he went on to tell the parable that follows in Luke, chapter 14.  You know the one.  A man was preparing a great banquet for many guests.  As was custom in that day, such a meal would have been preceded by invitations, which would have been accepted by those planning to attend, much like our understanding of RSVPs.  But then, when everything was ready, it was customary for the host to send servants out to let everyone know that it was time to come.  

 

And that’s what the host did in verse 17.  Of course, in Jesus’ story, those guests bailed out at the last minute with different excuses.  That makes the host angry, and so he sends his servant out to bring back the poor from the city alleys and then the country lanes so that his house would be full for the banquet.  Can’t you just imagine what this would look like today?  Unkempt people with dirty backpacks, stained clothes, and wild hair walking into a gated community for a party.

 

That’s what the kingdom of God looks like.  It’s a banquet, a celebration, a party, for those who know that they have no inherent right to be there.  Whatever it means to be poor in spirit, we should never miss that what we are talking about is not drudgery and depression.

 

When we describe following Jesus only in terms of duty, discipline, and struggle, we miss the joy, the celebration to which we are invited.  It’s a great banquet.  It’s a large feast.  Jesus likes to party!   

 

I know, I know, that’s not how we normally think of Jesus.  Maybe we’d even prefer not to think of him in those terms.  The Pharisees couldn’t make sense of it either.  They were angered at the way Jesus acted and the people he associated with.  But they got it all wrong, and we can’t make the same mistake.  Jesus likes to party! Jesus likes to party! 

 

Let’s not forget it.  At first, it may make us uncomfortable to say that, and we may want to qualify it, to explain it, to clarify it.  But, sometimes, I think it’s good to just say it.  Jesus likes to party, and the kingdom of God is a joy to enter.  Like a great banquet.  A feast.  It is to that the man in Jesus’ story invited his guests.  It is to that which we are invited.

 

But just like the invited guests in the story, maybe that’s why we sometimes don’t take it so seriously. I mean, it’s only a party after all.  Frivolous.   When the real world calls, you know, it has to take priority.  There are more important things to do.  There is money to make, to invest.  I’ve got to check on some land that I bought, said one guest.  Cars to fix.  Houses to repair.  I’ve got to try out some oxen, said another.  Families to attend to.  A wife or a husband to please.  I just got married, said the third guest. 

 

The exact excuses don’t matter as much as that they are excuses.  When the servant went to gather in the guests, those guests who had previously accepted the invitation now had priorities more important than honoring their previous commitments.  Their entanglements elsewhere took priority over the celebration to which they were invited.

 

(Pause)

 

We have our excuses, too, you know.  We have been invited to take part in the kingdom of God, many of us accepted the initial invitation, but yet we find ourselves making excuses for not fully committing our lives to God.  It seems so frivolous after all, when the real world gets in the way.  It can be anything.  Maybe it’s your work.  If I can just put in a little overtime now, then I’ll be able to relax later, you think.  Maybe you think you’re too young – you can’t be expected to do much at this age after all.  Or maybe you think you’re too old – your time has past, let others do the work of the kingdom.  Or maybe you use your children as an excuse.  It’s too much work to take them anywhere when they are little, and there’s not enough time when they are older because your priorities now have become their priorities.

 

Whatever excuse you are using for why you avoid God’s presence in your life, recognize it for what it is – an excuse that masks a deeper reality.  As one person put it, “Listen, my friend, if you do not want to be with God, it is not because you are too busy.  It is because you do not like God, do not want God, and you had better face the fact.”  (David Buttrick, Speaking Parables, 160; quoting al-Ghazzali).  Yes, if that’s the case, we’d better face it.  The issue is not busyness.  It’s idolatry.

 

(Pause)

 

In the parable, the man hosting the banquet gets angry.  Everyone he has invited to the banquet has bailed on him.  Snubbed him. And so he sends his servant out.  First, to the streets and alleyways, bringing in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.  And then, when there were still places at the table, to the country roads and lanes.  Make them come in, he said, so that my house will be full.  For I tell you, not one of those men who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.”

 

That last verse always gave me a lump in my throat.  It seems too harsh – can’t they change their minds?  It’s great that Jesus saves the poor and the lost and all, but what about me?  Of course, that was Ron Copeland’s joke last week, and as he explained, the joke is that we are among the lost who Jesus wants to brings in.  If we don’t see ourselves that way, then we are just like those invited guests who had other priorities.

 

Is this a harsh parable?  I guess it depends on which side of the line you fall.  If you find yourself being brought into a banquet that you otherwise are not worthy to attend, then it’s not so bad, is it?  But if you are the one with the excuses, well, that’s a different story.  "No one can enter into the Kingdom without God’s invitation, and no one can remain outside the Kingdom but by their own deliberate choice."  (T.W. Manson, The Sayings of Jesus).  

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

(Pause)

 

Last week, on my way home from our worship service, I passed a man with a big backpack walking alongside Rosser Avenue in Waynesboro.  He looked like a hiker, but he was older than the hikers you usually see in town.  His hair was white, his beard was white, his skin was tanned.  As I passed him, I saw on his back a clean, neatly written sign that said only these words, “Homeless but not without Jesus.”

 

Given what the scripture passages that we have looked at the past few weeks, I had to turn around and ask him if he needed a ride.  He did.  He got inside the car, put his backpack in the back, and said that he needed to get to Grottoes. 

 

His name was Glenn.  He was a Vietnam vet with a tragic story – a wife and child died while he was away in Vietnam.  Since then, he’s been sort of a drifter.  Dishonorable discharge.  In and out of jails.  He told me that he has walked in every state east of the Mississippi except Michigan.   I believe him.

 

I asked him about the sign on his backpack.  He said that he had turned his life around and that he just wanted people to know about Jesus.  “And really,” he said, “how can you be homeless if you’ve got Jesus?”

 

Glenn needed to get to Grottoes because, a while back, a woman named Sue had given him a ride and then invited him to Grottoes Baptist Church for a fellowship meal, if he could make it.  Sue had told him that he had to be at the church by 1:00 o’clock, but because it had gotten to be after 12:30, he had been thinking that he wouldn’t make it.

 

Glenn had started out in North Carolina, and he had been walking for five days along the roads, getting rides every now and then.  He had a cell phone, and he was keeping in touch with Sue as he made his way north, texting his progress to her.

 

We got to Grottoes Baptist Church at five till one.  Cars were still in the parking lot.  Glenn thanked me, but most of all he thanked God.  “Isn’t God good?” he said.  I watched as he carried his backpack into the church, smiling. 

 

I like to believe that Glenn will be somewhere eating the bread and taking the cup along with us this morning.  I took Glenn to the fellowship meal to which he had been invited, but in some way Glenn and Sue have taken me to this table, the Lord’s Table, in a new way this morning.   He walked five days along the roads, battling rain and bugs and cars whizzing past him.  Why?  Simply because he had been invited.  She was in her worship service, checking her cell phone as the pastor preached.  Why?  Because a homeless man she had met along the road was on his way for lunch.

 

That is communion.

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.

]]> http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/?p=283 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:30:35 +0000 faithcatalyst http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/4-those-who-mourn/ MEDITATIONS IN THE BEATITUDES - 4

Mt 5:3 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

We do not look forward to mourning; it is not something we would consider as a good part of life yet Jesus, in only the second of these Beatitudes, says those who mourn are blessed. How can it be? Mourning follows death! Solomon seemed to have the same idea: “Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.” (Eccles 7:3,4). The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning? Whatever does he mean?

Having recently been to a funeral of a family member, I have recently been reminded of another aspect of death and of the mourning that follows: it sheds light on life, it makes you think about life and what follows it. Death brings a perspective to life that is often missing. Yes, there is grief there for the loss of a loved one, but in the midst of that is this inner reflection that goes on, what is life about, what follows it? That's what Solomon meant.

Before we put any spiritual sense to today's verse, let's take it at its face value. Those who mourn will be comforted? Is that always true? Well time, they say, is a great healer, but does it bring ‘comfort'? I think ‘acceptance' is probably the right word, the ability to come to terms with the fact that death has occurred and life must go on, but not ‘comfort'. Comfort suggests a positive, good feeling. For many people with no spiritual experience or no relationship with God, death is a thing to be feared, or even hated, as it is seen to have snatched a loved one away. No, mourners are not always comforted, so what was Jesus saying?

When we put it in the context of the previous beatitude, when we think back on the things we thought about in the previous meditation, we realize that part of the process that we referred to, of coming to an awareness of our spiritual poverty and our need, does in fact involve mourning. We realize that the life we have lived fell far short of what we felt it could have been. We come to an awareness of our own failure, our own shortcomings and we anguish for that life. Indeed, even though that life is still there, we mourn over it, we grieve because of it. It is this process that brings us to the recognition that we must get right with God, and if God have provided a way for that to happen, we must accept that.

In his letter to the church at Rome, the apostle Paul uses the language of death: “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:2-4), “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (v.6-8), “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (v.11)

What Paul was saying was that to become a Christian we have to die to our old life, we have to give it up and let God bring us a new one. Now we don't mourn the old life after it has gone, that is the strange thing. No, we mourn for it, while we still have it. It is that mourning, that grieving over it, that brings us to Christ, that brings us to a place of surrender, where we are willing to let go our old life and let Jesus renew us. While we are in that state of mourning we wonder if indeed we are hopeless. Speaking of our old life, the apostle Paul said, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” (Eph 2:1). He then added, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.” (v.4,5). That's the life we had before we knew Christ – we were spiritually dead and hopeless and helpless, and then the Holy Spirit started convicting us and we started mourning that hopeless deadness. That was a vital part of bringing us right through.

So, the first beatitude shows us our need to come to an awareness of our spiritual poverty (dead in your transgressions and sins) and the second one shows us our need to realize the awfulness of that life, and mourn over it. These are the initial stages of us coming to Christ, the ‘bad news' that precedes the ‘Good News'.

]]> http://tlc4women.wordpress.com/?p=1401 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:00:53 +0000 tlc4women http://tlc4women.wordpress.com/2008/10/07/the-merciful/ Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

We continue with our study of the Be-Attitudes. This scripture begins with the basic knowledge of reaping and sowing, of giving and getting. Today let's study what it means to have mercy. According to the dictionary it means:

Compassionate treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
A disposition to be kind and forgiving: a heart full of mercy.
Something for which to be thankful; a blessing: It was a mercy that no one was hurt.
Alleviation of distress; relief: Taking in the refugees was an act of mercy.

So often in our culture we are told that to show mercy on some is a weakness in us. This becomes one of those misunderstood scriptures like when we studied about the meek inheriting the world. Yet God is merciful and since we are made in his image we must develop this characteristic.

Mercy is one of things that is easy for some and harder for others. It means that we see the person in their situation and we help in whatever form that takes on. If someone needs a helping hand then we help them to whatever level we can. We help others by warning them of situations that they are getting themselves into. We are commanded to never forget the poor among us.

The word merciful also means to be kind, to have pity. Isn't that what we expect from God when we find ourselves in places where mercy is the only thing that will keep us alive? Well, mercy is one of those seeds that we sow that we get to also see a harvest reaped.

Jesus was trying to teach us that if we are gracious to one another then we also receive grace for that is an aspect of mercy. Do you know that another aspect of mercy is when we plead the case of the poor? When we are given an audience or a platform in which to point out the needs of others is to show mercy.

Today I was told by a person from a Central American country that in his country if he were lucky to have a job he would earn about 500 of their dollars a month but that a pound of beans costs 20 of their dollars. So now we see that one pound of beans is like a days wages. That barely feeds a family. So he is here in the United States working and even though we complain about the economy he says that he will never complain about the work he does because he is able to live better than he ever has and he is able to send money back to his family so that they can eat and go to school and have a better life. I have to say that I had great compassion on his story. I pray that God shows him mercy and favor that he continues to prosper. Sometimes we see these people in our lives, bus boys, field workers, fast food workers and the like and we don't give them a second thought. They are merely foreigners to us but then you hear their story and your mercy, your kindness wells up in you and you are moved to do something that is favorable towards them. That is what Jesus was talking about!

]]> http://gjm4yeshua.wordpress.com/?p=271 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:35:28 +0000 gjm4yeshua http://gjm4yeshua.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/comfort/ Matthew 5: 4 - Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.

Psalm 23: 4b - Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Two very familiar, but misunderstood passages.  Our practical idea of comfort is far different than the spiritual concept described here.

In secular terms, our daily quest is comfort.  We just want to feel well and have a degree of certainty about the future.  Unfortunately, the comfort afforded by the typical American life narrows our ability to be comfortable.  Many people have a temperature range of 2.5 degrees in which we are comfortable.  We hate to be bumped or touched.  We are uncomfortable with conflict, with alternative view points, with diversity, with foriegn languages, with new foods, etc, and the list goes on.  We are bound to be uncomfortable.  What gives?

Our discomfort is not circumstantial, it is inherent.  When all quiets down, we are uncomfortable in our own skin.  "We have seen the enemy, and it is us," is Pogo's famous (if you are over 50) cartoon line.  Original sin is the culprit and the Garden curse is the invisible prick in our conscience.

The beatitude in Matthew speaks of this condition.  The mourning that Jesus asks for is not for earthly loss or discomfort.  It is more intense than that.  It is the soul-retching confrontation with our own nature.  When we truly look into the face of our own sin, one cannot help but fall down in utter despair.  It is repeated over and over in scripture.

Our natural instinct is the hot pursuit of comfort by changing our circumstances.  Looking for a new job, new relationship, the latest fashion or electronic toy will do the trick.  Not really.  The problem is, you take you with you on all these new ventures.  You cannot control your circumstances because you cannot control you.

How can you be comfortable every day, no matter what circumstances life throws at you?  It is the rod and staff of the Good Shepherd in the 23rd Psalm.  Submission to His guidance is the only way to comfortable in this world, preparing for the next.

]]> http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/?p=281 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:19:42 +0000 faithcatalyst http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/3-poor-in-spirit/ MEDITATIONS IN THE BEATITUDES - 3

Mt 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

We live in a world that extols greatness, strength, power, beauty, cleverness. In various disciplines involving psychology we speak of building self-esteem. Indeed when writing on parenting skills we spend much time on the need to build the self-esteem of our children. We go on courses and build up our CV so that when we go for a new job we can say how good we are. We go through annual assessments that prove how we are not only doing our job but doing it better and better, and thus we seek for promotion. Everything about life in this world is about promoting self.

It is helpful to have this awareness of the world – and we do need reminding of it – particularly when we come to such fundamental teaching as found in our verse today. When I became a Christian I went to my nearest church and attended the Bible Study where, to my surprise, everyone seemed to say that this and the following verses were impossible and therefore weren't for today! What they failed to realize is that it is impossible to experience this verse while holding on to the world's values of pride and self-centredness. If this and the following verses come as a shock to us, it is because we have become so rooted in the way of the world, that we have lost true perspective.

These Beatitudes of Jesus are in a purposeful order. There is nothing haphazard about them, and this first one is absolutely foundational to the whole of becoming and being a Christian. It is absolutely critical! But please note that it doesn't say, “Blessed are the Poor.” It is true that Luke, recording a similar set of teachings, says that (Lk 6:20) but Matthew picks up the emphasis – “in spirit”. There is no glorying in poverty in the Bible. In fact, part of God's promises of blessings, as we noted yesterday, include the blessings of provision (Deut 28:4,5,11). The absence of such provisions were part of the curses on Israel (Deut 28:17,18,38-40). Oh no, this is not blessedness of material poverty, but blessedness of being poor in spirit.

This being poor in spirit, needs to be distinguished from simple poverty of spirit. Poverty of spirit is what the self-centred, godless person has, the person who says they have no knowledge of the spiritual world, no sense of God's presence. This person has a poverty of spirit and seems to revel in it. The person who is poor in spirit is like that other person in that there is this absence of spirituality, but the big difference is that they are aware of it! Here is the crucial element – awareness.

The Old Testament gives us many examples: Moses – “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh” (Ex 3:11 ) and “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Ex 4:10). This was Moses' attitude: who am I that I could do your bidding, I'm a nobody! Gideon: “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Jud 6:15 ). Similarly in Gideon – I'm a nobody!

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul rejected the things the world clings to, his pedigree (Phil 3:5), his abilities at work (3:6), all these things he considered rubbish for the sake of knowing Christ (3:8). In his first letter to the Corinthians he spelled out his ‘philosophy': “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things.” (1 Cor 1:27,28). No, you don't get into God's kingdom by being strong or worldly wise, you get in by realizing, like Paul, that all these things are worthless, they count for nothing before God, He is not impressed.

How do you get into heaven? By trying hard? By working harder? By being pious? By being religious? No, by recognizing your spiritual poverty, recognizing that you are weak and poor and need God's help, recognizing that without Christ you can do nothing (Jn 15:5), without Christ you are lost. That is the condition for getting to heaven, that you recognize your need and recognize that it is only fulfilled in Christ. Note that it isn't mere humility which can be a simple recognition of limitedness. This being ‘poor in spirit' seen in the context of the whole Bible teaching, is a recognition that we need Christ for salvation. I can get into heaven no other way.

Finally note that when I come to God like this, He promises that He will provide a way (and has provided a way) for me to come into His eternal presence – and that starts the moment I come to Him like that. Eternal life starts the moment we come to God recognizing our need, and recognizing that God has provided the means of satisfying that need through Christ, through His death on the Cross and by the life of his Spirit. Here on earth we get glimpses of heaven as Jesus expresses himself. When we die on this earth, our eternal future is in that other dimension, in the presence of God, called heaven.

Not only do we need to realize that to become a Christian, but if we are to go on with God then we need to be reminded of it again and again. Like Moses and Gideon and Paul, I'm not up to the job, I'm not even up to the Christian life on my own, I constantly need Christ's help day by day. When I recognize this and turn to him, then suddenly there is a new heavenly dimension to my life, suddenly the power and presence of God's presence through Jesus, through his Spirit, breaks through in me and in my circumstances. That is how important this verse is. It points to the requirement for us both becoming a Christian and living life as a Christian. Our starting point is a point of recognition, of realization, of awareness. May it be so!

]]> http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/?p=279 Sun, 05 Oct 2008 06:45:16 +0000 faithcatalyst http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/2008/10/05/2-blessedness/ MEDITATIONS IN THE BEATITUDES - 2

Mt 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit

A problem that many people have is that these ‘Beatitudes' are so familiar that we miss some of the crucial points about them. Each one of them starts with this word, ‘Blessed'. Now many people think that this simply means, ‘Happy' and although that is true there is a much deeper meaning in it.

We need to go back into the Old Testament to see the meaning of the noun ‘a blessing' and the verb ‘to bless'. The reference to blessing comes first to Abram: “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.” (Gen 12:2,3) What we see there is God decreeing good for Abram and, through Abram, eventually the rest of the world. As a result of God's decree, Abram will father a great nation, his name will be respected and God will do good for those who purpose good for Abram and bad (curse) for those who purpose bad for him. We see therefore, from the outset, that God's blessing is His decree of good for a person.

Probably the first and most significant narrative about blessing comes with Isaac and his two sons, Esau and Jacob (Gen 27). When Isaac pronounces a blessing over Jacob it cannot be revoked or repeated for Esau. A blessing through a person is seen there as a prophetic decree (from heaven) of goodness over that person.

Thus we see from these examples that when someone is ‘blessed' it doesn't just mean that they are happy, it is that they are happy because God has decreed good for them and the happiness is as a result of that decree. (Of course when God decrees something it always happens.) We see the practical outworking of this in the Law in Deuteronomy. In Deut 28 we find God's promises of blessing on Israel if they will be obedient to Him and in verses 3 to 13 we find a whole range of ways that God will decree goodness for them, all very practical matters. Put simply we might say that if Israel did what God said, then He would make sure everything worked out well for them in their lives, but it wasn't something automatic, it was a specific act of bringing goodness from God.

So, when we come to these ‘beatitudes we need to see that it isn't just a case of people being happy if they live in these ways, but their happiness comes in specific forms in the second part of the verse and that is something specifically brought by God. It is not a general ‘happiness' that anybody experiences, they are specific ways of receiving happiness and they will only be received by the person who has the attitude expressed by the first part of the verse. We will reiterate this again and again, but it is vital to see it at the outset. When we have a certain sort of characteristic, as laid down in the first part of each verse, then God will purposely bring happiness by that person experiencing the second part of the verse – and it is something that He and He alone brings.

These things come out of relationship with the Lord. We will see that each of the things in the first half of the verses is an expression or outworking of our relationship with the Lord, and when we enter into that characteristic, the Lord then brings by decree, the goodness and happiness that goes with it, in the thing shown in the second part of the verse. In one sense these things are as sure as scientific laws – they will work like the verses say – but each and every one of them is in fact an outworking of our relationship with the Lord. Be prepared to be excited!

]]> http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/?p=277 Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:49:22 +0000 faithcatalyst http://biblemeditationshop.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/1-the-beatitudes/ MEDITATIONS IN THE BEATITUDES - 1

Mt 5:1,2 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….

There was a time in Israel's history when, “Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit” (Jud 21:25). It was a day when they had judges to rule over them but there was no one to take a teaching lead, and as a result everyone just did what they felt like doing. In this pluralistic age in which we live, the lie has been sown that no one has the right to say what is right and wrong, and indeed anything and everything is right. It perhaps comes as a shock for some, therefore, when they come to Christ to find that he wants to bring about a change in mindset by teaching them specific things.

Now in the verses above there are three sets of people to be noted. First of all there were “the crowds” and they are distinguished from “his disciples”. The crowds were simply people who had heard about Jesus and came along to hear what he might say. They were interested and no more. Perhaps that is you. You have come across these meditations and wondered about Jesus and thought you'd read along to see what it was about. It's great that you're here. We hope you'll find them both helpful and challenging.

Next there were “his disciples” and this probably refers to the twelve who now travelled with Jesus. ‘Disciple' really just means a learner. A disciple or follower of Jesus is first and foremost a learner. Again and again in the Gospels we find Jesus teaching (e.g. Mk 1:21, 2:13, 4:1, 6:2, 8:31). Very simply teaching is the imparting of information and understanding to bring about a change in knowledge and outlook. If you are a Christian, you are a disciple. Before we knew Christ we had lots of wrong ideas.

When we came to Christ the Bible suddenly opened up to us and Jesus started teaching us by his Holy Spirit, so that our minds and our ways of thinking are changed. We start to learn things about God and about ourselves that we hadn't ever realized before. We are taught that there is a new way to live which is quite different from the way we had lived before we knew Christ. Disciples are those who are committed to Jesus and committed to let him teach them so that they not only have a change in life when they come to God through Christ, but it is an ongoing change that is brought about as he teaches us and a new way is opened up before us.

Of course the final person to be noted is Jesus himself. As God’s Son he has God's wisdom and he imparts that to whoever will come to him. Jesus is a teacher and wherever crowds came to him, the first thing he sought to do was bring them the knowledge of God's love and the life they could be enabled to live.

In the following verses we will find it is highly challenging and we soon come to realize that we can only live this life with God’s enabling. The Christian life is all about living the life He’s designed us to live, with His help! Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom or rule of God (4:23) and he starts out with these beatitudes (beatitude = blessedness), showing what real happiness is. The way for real happiness is very different from what the world may advocate. We will now consider these eight "If you are this.... then this will cause you to be blessed" sayings. These are Christian fundamentals which apply to everyone.

]]> http://jamiescottage.wordpress.com/?p=279 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:45:19 +0000 Rambling Rose http://jamiescottage.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/studying-the-beatitudes-week-1/ I don't want to merely talk the talk, or only give lip service to what I believe. I want those around me to see me living and loving differently because of what and Who I believe. I want to be a "doer" of the Word...  

"Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like."      ~ James 1:22-24

In our study of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, I hope we will listen to what the Holy Spirit is showing us and make the necessary adjustments in our lives and in our hearts. I'll be hitting the highlights of this study we're doing (Lord, Only You Can Change Me), some of the author's main points, and anything that jumps out at me personally.

There is a lot to cover in our first week's study (chapter one)! It begins by directing us to read the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7) and to let that soak in, let the Holy Spirit--our Interpreter--speak to us through God's word.  Then to re-read and note all the times "righteous" or "righteousness" is used; by doing so, we learn that the main theme of the Sermon on the Mount is the righteous lifestyle of those who belong to the kingdom of heaven. The key verse (according to our study) is Matthew 5:20: "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven."  What does that mean? My interpretation of this is that even if we follow all the rules, cross all the t's and dot all the i's, our hearts may still be hard and our souls may still be polluted. Jesus said the Pharisees were like whitewashed tombs--beautiful on the outside but full of rotten things on the inside (Matthew 23:27). It's what's in our hearts that truly matters.

Many of us want to have our cake and eat it, too. We want to be saved from eternal damnation, but we want the "best" of what the world has to offer, too. In my own experience, I've lived this. I professed my belief in Christ and was baptised as a believer, but then spent more years than I care to mention doing what Jamie wanted to do. I believed in God, but the "fruit" I produced did not match up to what I claimed to believe. But true Christianity will give us the "want to", as my pastor puts it. If our hearts have been changed by Christ, we will be willing to leave those things behind and make a total commitment to Christ: to doing whatever He says. There will be some who claim to know Jesus as Savior, but they will be like wolves in sheep's clothing (Matthew 7:15). Their "fruit" will not match up with what they claim to be.

Hypocrisy: it's one of those buzzwords that many non-churchgoers use as the excuse to not attend church. But it's not just those in the church who are hypocrites! A hypocrite is anyone who "wears a mask." The word originally was used for Greek and Roman stage actors who wore exaggerated masks to show emotion. Based on that definition, are you a hypocrite? Is there ever a time you pretend to be someone you're not? Is there ever a time you paste on a happy face so no one sees the turmoil or difficulty in your life? Do you act differently with church friends than you do with coworkers?

Though the Sermon on the Mount seems like an impossible standard, it's not if we allow Christ to rule our lives. "I can do all things through him [Christ] who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

]]> http://annikarei.wordpress.com/?p=700 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:21:03 +0000 Annika Rei http://annikarei.wordpress.com/2008/09/30/the-pursuit-of-happiness/ "What makes you happy?" I was asked by a friend this morning. I answered to the best of my belief, but I suppose it still did not encompass everything that meant happiness to me.

Everybody wants to be happy. I think I haven't met anybody who doesn't want to. But people look at happiness in different ways. In Wikipedia, happiness is defined as "an emotion associated with feelings ranging from contentment and satisfaction to bliss and intense joy" Happiness is defined in so many ways, religiously, philosophically, psychologically. But what is real and everlasting happiness? Where can we find it and how can we achieve it? In the next few paragraphs, I'll try to express in my own words what I think is the true source of real and everlasting happiness from various references and arguments. Note that these are my opinions only, although I will be referring to sources written by other authors, some of which you'll find hard to refute.

Wikipedia says happiness is a feeling of contentment or satisfaction. Used in a sentence, for example, "I'm happy with how I look in this dress." - you're content so you won't have to look for another dress. Happiness also means a feeling of bliss and intense joy. For example, "I'm so happy I married you." Note that in the two given examples, the intensity of happiness differs. First is a simple contentment, and the next is a deeper, and more likely a lingering form of happiness.

Before I continue, let me ask you which one is better or more preferable? Contentment/satisfaction, or intense joy or bliss? You may argue that the first can bring about the second, and vice versa. True in some cases, but is it permanent? You can be happy now and be sad or discontent again tomorrow. Isn't it better to pursue a kind of happiness which is permanent, lingering, and eternal?

That, my friends, is my definition of real happiness - a happiness that doesn't falter, or fade, or need to be renewed. A happiness that is real is a happiness that lasts forever. And I think that is something no external source from this world can ever provide, because it is something we can find only within ourselves.

But before I tell you where we can find real happiness and how we can achieve it, let me share yet another form of happiness from other context: the choice to be happy.

Yes, happiness can also be a state of being, or a choice. You choose to be in that state. When does this come in? Usually, when something good or positive happens to us, or when we are in a good or positive situation, happiness is an automatic response or a normal state of our brain. But when something bad or negative happens to us (bad meaning something offensive or not in our favor), or when we are in a bad or negative situation, then we automatically feel sad, offended, or angry. That's part of being human. However, we can still choose to be happy despite misfortunes or scarcity. So now, happiness becomes a choice, not just an impulse or a feeling. If you always choose to be happy, then you won't have to rely on worldly things to make you feel happy.

Let me give an example of this. In the Bible, we find the Beatitudes. It is probably the part of the Bible where the word "happy" was written numerous times ("beatitudes" came from the Latin beatus, meaning "blessed" or "happy"). Looking at each, we can spot a few with contradicting ideas, like this Beatitude:

Happy are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Can someone that mourns be happy also? In normal context, no, because that connotes insanity. However, this is an example where happiness is a by-product of an action. Those that mourn doesn't feel joy, yet Jesus tells them to be happy because they will be comforted - He gives them something to look forward to. In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us hope of a great reward in the end, so we should endure the hardships and trials of this life in doing His commandments and all the while be happy about it. (For more understanding of the Beatitudes, I recommend this article)

So now I've presented three different forms of happiness: happiness out of contentment or satisfaction, mostly pertaining to material things and tangible sources or people; out of intense joy or bliss, pertaining to feelings and emotions; and out of choice, pertaining to the brain.

Now, the question is: what is real happiness?

Real happiness, I believe, is the combination of these three forms of happiness. If you are satisfied with what you have, and if what you have gives you the feeling of intense joy or bliss, and if you've learned to always choose to be happy everyday of your life - that is real happiness.

You might ask, how can that be? It's impossible for an ever-changing world like this. Yes, it's true that we don't know what the future will bring. That's why many people are still in hard pursuit of real happiness! They thought a certain thing or decision can make them happy, when in fact it won't. They try to always choose to be happy, they manipulate their brains yet within their hearts is a nagging feeling of grief and misery. It seems futile.

As I've said in the earlier part of this article, real happiness can be found only within ourselves. Because I believe that real happiness is a feeling of COMPLETENESS from the very core of our beings. The reason why many people experience only temporary happiness is because they change their minds and their hearts according to the world, even their bodies. They evolve and become more worldly each day. They forget that our core is not worldly; it is SPIRITUAL. We can't feed it with things we get from the world, which is material. Real happiness is when our own spirits feel satisfied inside us...it's just sad how we continue living just feeding our external bodies and therefore neglecting our true essence as humans!

Going back to the Beatitudes, notice that in the Bible the word "happy" is synonymous to "blessed". Jesus teaches us that people who are happy are also blessed. That explains why some biblical translations use the word "blessed" instead of "happy".  People who have been truly blessed by God experience happiness. I believe I can testify to that.  When God blesses us, He touches not only our material bodies, but our very own spirits - the very spirit He gave each one of us, which will inevitably return to Him, when our time comes.

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh accomplishes nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." -John 6:63

The flesh accomplishes NOTHING...

Jesus teaches us not material happiness but spiritual happiness. And that happiness comes from spiritual completeness.

How to be spiritually complete? It's not an easy task for a world dweller like you and me, but I tell you all that it's going to be worth it. I will try to cover this topic on my next post.

Everything around us - our house, our car, our job, all our material possessions, even our family and friends, and this very life on Earth, will pass. So what's the point of spending and wasting so much time and effort on it, pushing ourselves that far in order to achieve material happiness, and thereby neglecting what really matters?

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth." -Luke 21:33-35

If you ask me if I'm happy, I'd say yes. I may not have a house of my own yet, or a car, or even a job - but what I do have is something money can't buy, and time can't corrupt.  What I have, I believe, from the bottom of my fragile little heart, are truly God's blessings.

I wish you all the happiness you deserve...and may God bless us all. :)

]]> http://menatgac.wordpress.com/?p=498 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:53:55 +0000 David http://menatgac.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/498/

Do you know of someone whose primary modus operandi is “Looking out for number one”?  They assert themselves, they twist the truth, they withhold information, they do whatever they feel is necessary to protect their self interests.

Jesus calls us to something radically different than that.  This is what he said to his first followers,

Mt 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Someone who is meek does not throw his weight around to protect or promote his cause.  Rather there is a humble and gentle attitude that has been born out of confession and contrition.  The meek have come to understand that they are sinners whose future wellbeing is dependent on God’s grace not on human conniving and striving. That understanding leads to patience in dealing with others and confidence that God will come through.

The Psalmist captures it well in Ps 37:

8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
9 For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

The promised blessing associated with the meek is inheriting the earth.  This is not so much a physical tract of land, but rather a promise of provision and security.  A disciple will receive installments on this inheritance here and now as God, who knows what he needs, provides for him.  The fulfillment of this will come when believers inhabit the new heaven and the new earth.

]]> http://hedwyg.wordpress.com/?p=462 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:30:08 +0000 warriormare http://hedwyg.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/a-bible-for-those-with-a-chronic-illness/ I was looking at the statistics for this blog, because I'm a geek and I enjoy looking at them, and I noticed that someone had visited my blog after searching for ehlers gospel.  Well, I've posted about my own struggles with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and I've posted lectionary bits based on the gospel lesson for the day.  I don't know whether this person found what they were looking for here, but something interesting sang to me from that.

What would a gospel look like for someone with chronic pain?  What would the Ten Commandments be for a person who has a chronic illness?  How would someone with an invisible illness rewrite the bible?  I invite you to help flesh this out some more in the comments.  I thought I'd start with the Beautitudes... and maybe with some of the blessed/woe statements like Jesus uses in Luke.

• Blessed are those who suffer from a chronic illness, for they have come to know their need for God and for other people.
• Blessed are those who feel pain, for they can see pain in others.
• Blessed are those who minister to the sick, for they are the hands of God; woe to those who accuse the sick of having insufficient faith, for they only reveal their own lack.
• Blessed are those who listen, for they will hear God's voice; woe to those who speak thoughtlessly, for they will find themselves alone.

So those Ten Commandments?

• This is the name of your illness, which affects every part of your life: _________.  Thou shalt learn all thy can about thine illness and its symptoms.
• This is your physician, who is managing thy prescriptions.  Thou shalt not seek prescription medications from any physician but this one.
• Thou shalt follow thy physician's instructions for self-care, rest, and medications.
• Remember thy spoon count, and keep it from running empty.
• ..... do you have some more?

I'm finding myself remembering some of the stories of healing and recovery in the bible, and those are probably good things to keep in mind on days that may be more hurty than others.

I hope you find blessings in your journey today - peace!

]]> http://dripdripdrip.wordpress.com/?p=321 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:21:46 +0000 mark_s http://dripdripdrip.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/321/

Maybe it's five thirty, six o'clock in the evening.  Say you are seven years old and home from school.  It's fall, you're in the backyard, on the swingset. And you're swinging, swinging as high as you can. Grass stains on your knees.  Barefoot.  A cool breeze blows in your face and through your hair as you pump your legs and lean, lean, lean, back and forth, back and forth.  Higher and higher you go.

And then it happens.  That moment when you've gone so high that that you are gently lifted off of the swing and are suspended in air.  And though your hands are tightly gripping the chains beside you, in that moment, that split second, you feel completely free, a combination of both fear and complete joy.  Do you know that feeling? 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Back at the swingset, off in the distance, you hear your mother calling you in for dinner.  But it's plausible that you didn't really hear her, with the wind in your ears and all.  And so you stay on that swingset, knowing that another call will soon come.  You're just thankful for whatever extra time you get, just swinging.  When you are in extra time, borrowed time, two minutes feels like half and hour.  Do you know that feeling? 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Five minutes later, you definitely hear your father and his high pitched whistle. There's no denying the whistle, the whole neighborhood hears the whistle.  You get off the swing and walk towards the house.  You wash your hands, you sit down.  The food is hot on the table.  You didn't order it.  You didn't choose it.  Maybe you don't even like it.  But you're hungry and you eat what has been set before you.  Do you know that feeling?

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

In Isaiah 41:17-20, God promises care and deliverance for Israel in exile in Babylon, just like God promised and provided care and deliverance for Israel when it was snatched out of slavery in Egypt.   And the reason for this, the reason for God's miraculous deeds on Israel's behalf - look at verse 20- is so all "may see and know, may consider and understand, that the Lord God has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it - that the God of Israel reigns supreme." 

God offers special care for those cannot care for themselves - for it is they that provide proof of God's power and love. 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

We adults are used to having choices.   If we are hungry, we get something to eat.  Salty or sweet, we've got choices.  If we are thirsty, we get something to drink.  Hot or cold, we've got choices. And if for some reason, we don't have at home what we crave, well, there are many places that do, day or night.  Do you prefer convenience or low prices?  Well, you've got choices.  And once you get to the store, forget about it - there's a whole other world of choices that opens before you.  I mean, there's three long shelves stocked full with deodorant alone. 

(Pause)

It's so different from those days in the backyard, vulnerable, waiting for the call to come home, eating what others have set before you. 

(Pause) 

"The poor and the needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst." (Isaiah 41:17).

Most of us don't know this sort of poverty.  Most of us, I think, sit in our living rooms and feel so distant from the open wounds of the world.  Hurricanes, food crises, wars.  It's not that we don't care.  I don't believe that.  It's just that we don't know what to do.  We are a people used to choices, to getting things done.  With wealth, with education, come choices, contingency plans, at least a safety net in case all goes to wrong. 

(Pause) 

I believe that the materially poor and the oppressed poor have something to teach us about what it means to be poor in spirit, what it means to live life with outstretched hands before the Holy One. 

It's not easy when there seems to be no good alternatives, when we know that even our best efforts will fall short.  But I believe that it's in that very confession of our powerlessness, our helplessness, that God blesses with a growing awareness of God's power, God's presence, God's kingdom.  When we find ourselves in over our heads and we sink below the surface, we emerge with the one who saves us.  That's what baptism is, you know. 

A man goes up to Jesus.   A young man.  A wealthy man.  A powerful man.  Rich in all the ways that seem to matter - youth, wealth, and power.  And he asks Jesus, "What do I need to do to have eternal life?  He has kept all the commandments.  Jesus said, if you wish to be perfect; go and sell all your possessions; give to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven;  Then come, follow me. 

When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.  (Matthew 19:16)  The moment your impulse becomes that for self-preservation, to keep what you have, is the moment you take a step away from the narrow path that Jesus is blazing before us. 

Of course, right before this story in Matthew 19, the children were being brought to Jesus in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray.  The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." (Matthew 19)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Let the little children come to me, do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.

Remember that feeling, say when your seven years old, swinging on the swingset and you'd get so high that you were gently lifted up off the swing before landing again secure?  Remember when you'd savor every minute on that swingset, because you never knew when you'd be called home?  And do you remember when you'd sit at the table, ready to eat the food that was set before you, simply because that was what there? 

I think that's what it means to be poor in spirit.  When you are vulnerable, when your life is in the hands of others, when you can only live in the present with a sense of wonder at life's little pleasures, when you eat the food that is set before you, with thanksgiving. "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for this food.  By God's hands, we all are fed, give us Lord our daily bread." 

Those of us who are adults have trouble with this, of course.  We know about the work that goes into cooking.  We know how the food is bought and paid for and how it comes to be put on that table.  We've chosen that food and bought it from our favorite store, the one that is close and where the checkout lines are always well-staffed.

In 2 Corinthians, Chapter 9, the Apostle Paul is encouraging the fledgling congregation in Corinth to give a collection for the suffering believers in Jerusalem.  He grounds his counsel in who God is - the One who gives to the poor, whose righteousness endures forever.  But Paul doesn't stop there - this practice, is not just for the benefit of those who need money.  Listen closely -  "You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us, for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.  Through the testing of this ministry, you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Jesus Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you.  Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"

Jesus' commandment to love your neighbors wasn't just for our neighbor's sake, it was for our sake as well.  We are to love our neighbors so that we are rescued from an anesthetic life, a life that that is numb to the vulnerability, the acts of grace, the blessing of each new day.  An anesthetic life is one that can't taste and see that the Lord is good, that everyone is someone, and that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

Let's not romanticize what it means to be poor.  The kingdom of heaven will not have distended bellies, dark hiding places, and dirty water to drink.  God mourns when people are sick because they do not have enough.  God simply wants all of us children to rest in God's care and providence.  That is why we who have much and those who have little are desperate for each other.   We are to be in solidarity with each other so that we - and others - may see and know, may consider and understand, that the Lord is our provider, our savior, our redeemer." 

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Let the little children come to me, do not stop them, Jesus said, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. 

You know, you can go back.  To that feeling you had, in the backyard, barefoot.  When you were completely vulnerable, joyfully holding on for dear life.  When you lived with thanksgiving for each tick of the clock.  When you relished simple pleasures.  When you simply ate the food that was set before you. 

It's possible to go back, but it's not something that we can do by ourselves.  We need those who have learned these blessings to show us the way. 

And after the long hard slog to get there, we may find, to our joy, that it is to such as us that the kingdom of heaven belongs.

]]> http://menatgac.wordpress.com/?p=475 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:48:51 +0000 David http://menatgac.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/crying-over-the-wrong-things-in-life/

Besides peeling onions, the price of gas and your favourite sports team losing in the playoffs, does anything bring tears to your eyes?

Sin should.  That is the point Jesus is making when he says,

Mt 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

The kind of mourning that he is talking about is fundamentally a sorrowing over sin.  It is what the Psalmist speaks about when he writes:

Ps 119:136 “My eyes shed streams of tears,
because people do not keep your law”

It means moving beyond confessing that we are sinners and that we can’t fix our sin, to feeling sincere remorse and sorrow because that is our state. And not just our personal state, but the state of others and the state of our world.

This one caught my attention. I need to grow here. My heart is not broken over sin the way it should. That came home to me recently as I followed the story of seven year old girl that died while in the care of her guardian. My emotional response to the details of that story were shock, anger and disgust, but mourning over sin and the sinfulness that gave rise to this tragedy was not a response of mine. When it comes to my own sin again my response is muted. Too often I just feel regret or frustration, but I do not mourn as I ought.

In the day of Jesus, the nation of Israel was awaiting one who would come and deliver them from the bondage of sin, who would bring comfort to those that mourn (see Isa 61:1-3).  Simeon, who blessed the infant Jesus in the temple court, recognized that Jesus was that one, the consolation of Israel (Lk 2:25).  Paul in his letter to the Corinthians speaks of how believers will through Christ share abundantly in comfort.

That is the promised blessing for those who mourn, that we will know God’s comfort in the midst of the affliction that we face in this fallen world corrupted and polluted by sin.

]]> http://transforminggrace.wordpress.com/?p=374 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:13:19 +0000 neilrobbie http://transforminggrace.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/soft-pillows-or-the-way-of-the-cross/ I was reading Thomas Watson's exposition of "blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness" whilst sitting comfortably on the day-bed in my study. You can imagine what effect the following excerpt had on my attitude to too comfortable a lifestyle.

Alas how far are they from suffering who indulge the flesh: '. . . that lie upon beds of ivory and stretch themselves upon their couches’ (Amos 6: 4); a very unfit posture for suffering. That soldier is like to make but poor work of it who is stretching himself upon his bed when he should be in the field exercising his arms. What shall I say, says Jerome, to those Christians who make it all their care to perfume their clothes, to crisp their hair, to sparkle their diamonds, but if sufferings come, and the way to heaven has any water in it, they will not endure to set their feet upon it! Most people are too effeminate. They use themselves too nicely and tenderly. Those 'silken Christians' (as Tertullian calls them) that pamper the flesh, are unfit for the school of the cross. The naked breast and bare shoulder is too soft and tender to carry Christ's cross. Inure yourselves to hardship. Do not make your pillow too easy.

]]> http://vdma.wordpress.com/?p=1455 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:49:42 +0000 Rick http://vdma.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/black-eyed-susans/

Warm lazy days.

August.

September.

The sun shines on my face.

The Lord God in heaven loves His neighbor and His enemy.  He prays for those who persecute Him.  He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 5:43-48.

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