Chapter 6 - The
Beatitudes
Mat_5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.
Bonhoeffer- 'This
community of strangers possesses no inherent right of its own to protect its
members in the world, nor do they claim such rights, for they are meek, they
renounce every right of their own and live for the sake of Jesus Christ. When
reproached they hold their peace; when treated with violence they endure it
patiently; when men drive them from their presence they yield their ground.
They will not go to law to defend their rights, or make a scene when they
suffer injustice, nor do they insist on their legal rights. They are determined
to leave their right to God alone-- non cupidi vindictae, as the ancient Church
paraphrased it. Their right is in the will of their Lord--that and no more.
They show by every
word and gesture they do not belong to this earth.
But Jesus says:
"They shall inherit the earth."
Those who now
possess it by violence and injustice shall lose it, and those who here have
utterly renounced it, who were meek to the point of the cross, shall rule the
new earth. '
My thoughts-
Bonhoeffer said- 'They show by every word and gesture they do not belong to
this earth.' Is this true for you?
I've remarked before
how difficult it is to tell a Christian from a non-Christian in our world today
and how that HAS to be because of Satan. It's true, isn't it? Why isn't it VERY
visible by actions alone?
No, we don't mark
ourselves as monks wearing robes and shaving our heads. We don't put on a nun's
habit, we don't don a priest's collar, we aren't wrapped up in old fashioned
clothes like Quakers and Amish, we wear every day clothing common to most. Are we supposed to make ourselves look
conspicuously like what we imagine our Savior wants us to look like? Were the
disciples of Christ's day told to look a certain way so they stand out as being
Christ's? I don't think so. Our ACTIONS speak for us, not our clothing, not our
specific haircuts, not the special shoes we wear, not the buttons on our hats,
or the logos on our shirts. We can wear
something special. We can put on a certain- 'I'm Christian' garb, but it means
NOTHING. The priest behind the collar can call Himself Christian but if he's a
drunkard, an abuser, he is FAR from being truly Christ's in his actions. Clothing means little in the GRAND scheme of
things. It truly is by our WORDS and our GESTURES we reveal ourselves to
others.
All too often we
fall far short from what we ourselves hope to be as we claim Christ as our
Savior. This knowledge of our own shortcomings are GIFTS from God, allowing us
to seek His forgiveness, His help in comprehending His plan for us, as HE
changes us.
2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
By the Spirit of the
Lord.
Our gestures, our
every word matters. We might think they
don't, it's easy to think they don't but they do.
If we belong to this
world it'll show.
Mat_5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit
the earth.
This is God's truth.
The meek not
necessarily the soft-spoken, mousy person people tend to immediately think of
when they hear the word, meek. The meek,
the humble, those who recognize their existence as CREATURES, created, and do
NOT even begin to take on the airs of one who owes their existence to mere
chance. The meek, understanding that our
Savior has TOLD us, He has given us instructions on how He wants us to live in
Him, through Him! Those instructions
aren't to be ignored. WE must live by Him and as we do, we will be meek, we
will be humble as HE is.
All through His
grace may we be HIS, and as HIS, meek.
In HIS LOVE, always
in HIS LOVE.
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