This week's "Reflection" by Gary Keith, Pastor of Teaching & Worship
What are you reflecting on after hearing the message this week?
This Sunday we started a new series designed to prepare us to go out in our community to love and care for others in the name of Jesus. The focus of week one was packing for our trip. We used the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-12 as our packing list. As I reflect on this passage there are a couple of things that stand out.
First, the beatitudes are not to be seen as a multiple choice type of deal. The follower of Christ cannot pick and choose which ones they want to to live out. We are to embrace all of them. Which one of the eight is the easiest for you? Which one is the hardest?
Second, each of the eight are not a once and done deal. When we cooperate with God, He builds these eight qualities into our lives. We are people in process and so our list of beatitudes is something we will never perfectly achieve but are charged by Jesus to pursue as we live reflecting Him. What does this mean to you? Does it give you encouragement to try? OR Does it make you want to give up trying?
The last thing I want to mention is verse six. We are told that "God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied." I think this is so cool because if we come craving righteousness as a person craves food and water, the promise is that we will be satisfied. God will help us achieve doing right as we intensely pursue righteousness. What a promise of God!
What are you reflecting on after hearing the message this week?
Honestly, the Beatitudes seem impossibly difficult to me!!! Maybe that?s why I?m so drawn to them. For years I strived to live the life I thought Jesus wanted me to live. I tried to do the right things. I prayed, read my Bible, and served in my church. A few years ago, I finally realized that my Christian life was a sham. I could not possibly live the kind of life Jesus described in the beatitudes. It absolutely made me want to give up. I threw up my hands and said, "forget it, this is impossible!" I?ve been thinking lately that that's part of the point. God was letting me know that my strivings were pointless ... like chasing after the wind. After awhile, I began to realize that my only hope is Jesus. Rather than striving to live the beatitudes for God, I began trying to give myself to God. I began praying that He would transform me into His image and that I would exhibit the fruits of His Spirit. I tried to focus on ?being with Him? rather than ?doing for Him.? My prayer life became more about cultivating a relationship rather than just asking for things. And as I see just how much He has done for me, my love for Him grows and grows. Still, those works based tendencies are always trying to regain a foothold to draw me away from Christ.
ReplyDeleteI?m wondering if that?s why Paul prayed without ceasing. Did he see the shallowness of His religious striving the moment he met the living Christ? Did He suddenly know that a godly life was way too big a cross to bear, and only Christ living in him could bear it? Did he realize that all our clever strategies, good works, and articulate theology would never make us right with God? Was his love for Christ based solely on his salvation, and his works being his reply? Or did Paul?s love for Christ flourish as he communed daily with Jesus and witnessed the transformation in his life?