Good Tuesday afternoon, my friends.
Today I want to share with you another great article by John Fischer. Let me know if this strikes home with you as it did with me.
Kingdom requirements
by John Fischer
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:3-6)
Kingdom requirements. That's what these are. Kingdom requirements. It's what you need to see it. It's what you need to be in it.
This is not Jesus being extra special nice to people who haven't gotten a fair shake in life. This is not Jesus giving the poor a break. This is Jesus announcing the arrival of the kingdom of God and describing who is going to be a part of it. This was the first thing he said. This is where it all starts.
Proud people don't get in. Rich people don't get in. Successful people don't get in. Self-righteous people don't get in. Happy people don't get in. Competent people don't get in. And it's more than just getting in. People like this don't even see it. They don't know what it is. They can't. They are blinded by their own sufficiency.
What are these blessings and how do you get them? You get them by becoming like this. And how do you get like this?
Life does this to you. Your desire to be pleasing to God - your desire to be like Christ - will make you like this. It will break you. It will show you how much you are not mourning over yourself and your selfishness. It will show you how proud you are. It will show you how far you are from being righteous. The people who get into the kingdom of God are the ones who realize they least deserve it. Let me rephrase that because I think it's stronger than that: The only people who get into the kingdom of God are the ones who realize they don't deserve to be there.
And here's the other reason why this works. This is how you come to realize your need for the Holy Spirit in your life. This is how you finally get it that it is the Holy Spirit who does all of this. God breaks us down to bring us up. It's a requirement of spiritual transformation to be broken. God strips us of everything we thought gave us an advantage because the Holy Spirit only comes to the disadvantaged.
The Holy Spirit doesn't come alongside strong people to make them stronger; the Holy Spirit comes inside the lives of those who know they can't make it any other way.
Now go back and read those "blessed"s again and realize Jesus is saying this the start. This is where it all begins.
Only when we recognize our need for God and a saviour can we be part of the Kingdom.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance,
Bruce
God, our Creator, thank you for the gift of Jesus. He walked among us embodying your creative and life-giving Word in his body, his life, his words, his deeds, his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. When we see him loving the outcast, forgiving the sinner, confronting the hypocrite, and teaching the crowds a new way of life, we see your heart, your compassion, your mercy, your character. To know Jesus is to love him, and to love him is to know him, and to know and love him is to know and love you.
So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught.
Help me, Lord, to be among the poor in spirit, to see and know that your kingdom is my homeland even now ...
Help me, Lord, to be among those who mourn, to join you in your sadness for all that's wrong and broken in this world, and in joining you, to find true comfort.
Help me, Lord, to be among the meek, those who find strength in weakness and power in vulnerability, to never fear lack or want, because when I have your love, I have all the world.
Help me, Lord, to desire justice, rightness, goodness, fairness, cleanness, clearness, and integrity more than I hunger for food or thirst for water ... and so let me find the truest fulfillment and satisfaction.
Help me, Lord, to be among the merciful. Help me to be a true friend to those who are hated, misunderstood, rejected, excluded, disregarded ... just as you, God of Mercy, are. When others fail - when they fail me - help me show the same mercy you show to those who fail you ... including me.
Help me, Lord, to be among the pure in heart. May your pure light shine in my heart and dispel every shadow, every layer and fold that conceals or pretends. Since it is only the heart that sees you, remove from my heart everything that keeps me from seeing you.
Help me, Lord, to be among the makers of peace. Many build walls. Many sow fear and distrust. Many spread rumors. Many inflame conflict and profit from it. Help me to be even among them an agent and messenger of your peace and reconciliation, and so bear your family likeness, God of peace.
Help me, Lord, not to fear being among the persecuted, but rather, to rejoice in having the honor of standing for your restorative justice and rightness, so I will see that your kingdom is my homeland, even now.
Help me, Lord, to be among those who suffer wrong well and with grace. Help me not to resent it, not to fear it, not to seek to escape it. Instead, help me to find joy in it ... when others insult me, make my life more difficult, or falsely malign me because of you. Help me to see through the momentary, light trouble to the lasting and weighty reward, even now, for your kingdom comes by suffering rather than by making others suffer.
So help me, Lord, to be among your disciples who come to you to be taught. I am a limping, broken sinner and beginner, far from these realities, but this is where I want to go. In your mercy, lead me in this path.
Amen.
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