Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The sermon on the mount was once called (by a former pastor of mine) the greatest moral sermon ever preached. It gave everything that we needed to live a Godly life. Every minute detail of our daily lives was addressed from the qualities of a follower of Christ to missionary work, from love and divorce to authority and worry. The beatitudes in the sermon on the mount are the qualities of the follower of Christ, but those have already been addressed, mostly. The last two verses in the beatitudes are the consequences of having the previous seven qualities.

Blessed (Happy or fulfilled) are those who are persecuted. Why should persecution be happy? It is not; being persecuted is no fun. It is horrible and painful, yet we are not called to be joyful in persecution, it is persecution for righteousness' sake. When you add in that we are suffering because of our search for righteousness, then it starts to make sense. It is only through persecution that we can be brought to a closer understanding of Christ. A closer understanding of Christ and what He went through makes us love Him all the more. James talks about suffering and being steadfast (James 1:2-4) because it is through the suffering that God provides for us that we might lack for nothing. If we are not persecuted, how could God's glory be shown? God's glorification is paramount in everything. He loves us and it is for His glory and for His name's sake that He blesses us.

Look at the end of the verse. It reflects word for word the very first blessing and the first step towards being more Christ like. The poor in spirit are blessed because they will see the kingdom of heaven (vs 3). It is through being poor in spirit that we begin being persecuted. When we realize the depths of our depravity, we begin being attacked and hurt. It is through our afflictions that we are brought closer to God (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). It is through suffering and torment that the world shows its hate for Christ. If we are to be like Christ, the world will hate us. It is through persecution that the glory of God is truly shown as well. The more we become like Christ, the more we are hounded by this world. The more we are harassed, the more of God's glory will be shown, the more of His glory that is shown, the closer we can come to Christ.

It is through our torment that we can encourage others (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7) and it is through their encouragement that they can go and be stronger Christians. Our persecution then leads to our personal growth as well as the growth of others, even when we do not realize it!

The glory and the workings of God become more pronounced and we will be able to see His kingdom growing throughout our problems. It is through events that are clearly out of our control that God draws attention to Him, and He loves it when we cast everything on Him. His strength is there for us, His glory enboldens us, His love encompasses us, His mercy leads us, and His creation awes us. It is all Him. Thank you God! Please lead me on and take me further in my walk with you! Although the road may be rocky and the path difficult, You will help me and guide me! Thank you!

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.

No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.

Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

The problem with peace is that most people confuse it with calm. We say the world is at peace when we mean that things are still and there is calm and quiet. Peace can exist in such calm, in such quiet, or in such stillness. In fact it is only in such stillness that we are able to come to a more profound understanding of God (Psalm 46:10) yet peace is instead a balance, a lack of contention, a lack of discord. Peace can be found in the most hectic of situations or the most worrying of times. Peace is the inner serenity when everything else is falling to pieces. Peace is there when even in the busiest or most traumatic of times there is harmony and poise, patience and understanding, kindness and love.

Oh to be a maker of such situations! Where there is trouble or strife, we could go in ad change the friction to understanding and mutual comprehension. Where there is argument, we could change it to vocal eloquence and all involved could walk away satisfied. Wait! We are called to be peacemakers in this, the last characteristic of the Christ-follower given in the beatitudes. Physically, a peacemaker brings peace to all situations he or she is involved in. Physically a peacemaker is a child of God because they show His nature in every aspect of themselves. I am a child of my father. I have his nose, his facial features, and I even walk similarly according to some people from his church when he was my age. I resemble my dad, and so it is with us and our spiritual father. We start to share His attributes!

Spiritually a peacemaker brings peace to their own lives. They are able to be calm in the storms and fights between righteousness and worldliness, Godliness and selfishness. The peacemaker meets every obstacle with the full knowledge of Christ standing with him or her. Only a true child of God is able to bring closure to the constant inner battle.

We as children of God aspire to be this peacemaker. Here is the final attribute and it combines all the other attributes. The peacemaker brings together the physical and the spiritual to create a melody of thanks, and live a life of glory to God. To be a peacemaker, one has already taken their poorness of spirit and mourned over their failures. They have been able to overcome their inherently sinful nature and show themselves meek to God's will. They thirst after everything that comes from God and show mercy to everyone in everything they do. Their hearts are sanctified and purified and they are able to hold on to Christ's promises and walk confidently in their security as children of God. We are adopted heirs of God! We are already children of God! It only leaves us to acquire His features and His attributes which will come with time. We have the certainty of God's word on this! All we need to do is spend the time with Him.

How then can we bring closure and balance to every part of our lives? How can we take God's presence and make it visible in all we do? This is the only way we can bring peace to the battleground that is our heart and mind and soul. Christ is the only one who can bring peace to our lives so we can then carry this peace to those around us.

Peace, doubting heart! my God’s I am;
Who formed me man, forbids my fear;
The Lord hath called me by my name;
The Lord protects, for ever near;
His blood for me did once atone,
And still He loves and guards His own.

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

One of my favorite musicals to watch is The Sound of Music because of the hope offered
throughout. In this musical, there is a song about a flower and no, it isn’t “My Favorite Things”
either. Its Edelweiss. Edelweiss the pure, white flower of the Alps. Edelweiss with white blossoms so perfectly white that it perfectly blends in with the environment in it’s natural habitat, the highest, farthest, snowiest crags of the Alps. Edelweiss is so perfectly white that even after it is picked and pressed it will not discolor for many years, but instead stays white!

Like the rest of the beatitudes, this one is both physical and spiritual, corporeal and ethereal. The difference is that this verse was phrased in such a way that it told the hearer the most obvious, most dogmatic principle and told them to extrapolate the rest. “they/you shall see…” was a Hebraism, a common saying meaning “to fully enjoy the benefits of” because “seeing” something was used as a metaphor for possessing something. The pure in heart shall completely enjoy the benefits of God.

Physically, only the legally pure were able to go into the Temple and the Holy place. Only the
High Priest or his designate could go into the Holy of Holies once a year. Here Jesus alludes to
this. Only the legally pure were able to enter into the Holy place and to commune directly with
God, to enjoy His felicity and to have that special life-changing moment.

Spiritually, only the righteously pure will be able to commune forever with God in the place Christ went to prepare for us. Only the spiritually pure, who can only be purified by the complete and total acceptance of Christ’s gift for us and the utter surrender to Him and His will for us. If we do this, our lives will be continuously in that special life-changing moment, our hearts will be continuously seeing God and His mighty works no matter where we may be.

We are called to be Edelweiss pure and white, called to be washed, rinsed, and dried by the blood
of our Savior. We are called to strive to conquer the mountains of this world, to climb the heights
of the hills and descend the depths of the valleys only to climb once more to the peak to attain this simple flower. Jesus is our guide and our leader. He is our anchor in the treacherous climbs and our companion in the valley. While we are seeking purity, righteousness, virtue, Godliness, and His presence and likeness, He is right there with us yet like the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke24:13-33), we only recognize it later!

Let us seek and hunger after righteousness, and then He shall spread His mercy on us. As we
share His mercy with those around us, He shall keep us pure in heart and purpose. Let us strive
for purity: purity of heart, purity of mind, purity of soul, and purity of strength!

O Holy Spirit, keep us pure,
Grant us Thy strength when sins allure;
Our bodies are Thy temple, Lord;
Be Thou in thought and act adored.

Matthew 5:7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

During my senior year of high school, I fell into patch of thorns while playing Frisbee (if my memory is correct) with my siblings. Those thorns pierced my foot and lodged themselves in it. My father was there and with a pair of tweezers and a bucket of hot water, he extracted as many of the thorns as he could. The rest would have to work their way out. Well, they did not seem so deeply embedded then, but ever since then I have had these little slivers, these broken thorn tips working their way out of my foot. Someday each one will be out, but until then I must endure the thorns.

Paul complained of a thorn in his flesh, yet God's response was “My grace is sufficient for thee.” We all have problem areas in our life which are not immediately removed when we are saved. As much as we would like that these slivers of our old life to be gone, God allows them to remain, and then he blesses us with the grace and sufficiency to daily endure and continue in our walk with him. It is His mercy alone that allows us to continue while afflicted. His mercy dictates that the knowledge and experience that our pain and our problems bring be used to compassionately aid others who are going through similar trials as we have undergone. Our mercy to others will be reciprocated, not only by God gracing us with the ability to overcome, but also by others around us. Have you ever noticed that the people who are willing to help, to be there, to aid and who have compassion on others, these are the same people that people aid and have compassion on. Without having undergone struggles that make us weak, that make us mourn, that humbles us, and that increases our appetite for God we can never be able to properly aid and comfort others to the fullest extent that is demanded of us. These slivers of our old lives become the very witness which God requires.

As we walk with Christ, as we come closer to Him, we learn more and more about His enduring mercies. Yes, it was mercy that we are forgiven of our sins, yes it is mercy and we can not repay it. However daily life takes our mercy upon others and other's mercy on us, most importantly it is God's mercy that leads us closer to him despite our failures and problems.

How can we take what we now know and have painfully learned and use it for God's glory. How can we be silent about His mercy. How can we be compassionate towards all the people we come across in our daily lives.

The mercy of God is an ocean divine,
A boundless and fathomless flood.
Launch out in the deep, cut away the shore line,
And be lost in the fullness of God.