The Beatitude series - Part 3 (Power of meekness)

In the earlier posts in this series, We have seen that the rules of Kingdom of Heaven are totally different from that of this world, and that we can belong to God's Kingdom only through the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This means that we cannot adhere to the rules of the Kingdom by any of our best efforts. We will keep failing again and again, if we try to follow it on our own and it doesn't matter how much ever self-control and self-confidence we may have. It is only through the pouring down of Grace, that we are set right with God.

In this post, I want to take you through one quality that is very important in the Kingdom of God. According to Matthew 5:5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth". Yes, meekness is one of the important qualities which God desires and it is one of the least sought after in this world. One definition of Meekness goes like this "the feeling of patient, submissive humbleness". In contrast to the worldly view of meekness, the Biblical view of meekness in any way doesn't refer to weakness. Jesus Christ was meek, but He was brave enough to uphold the traits which God expects.

In what ways we can be meek in our day to day lives?

1. We can be meek when we serve others
2. We can be meek when we put others interest over ours
3. We can be meek when we forgive others
4. We can be meek when we resist the urge to take revenge
5. We can be meek when we give up fighting
6. We can be meek when we treat others with courtesy and respect
7. We can be meek when we considers others better than ourselves
8. We can be meek when we share our things with others

There can be lot of items added to the above list. In short, when we put the interests of others over our self, we can be meek. Jesus Christ demonstrated this when He surrendered Himself to the Roman authorities. Why did He surrender?. In order to save you and me. That was His important goal, and he didn't mind all the insults that He suffered at the hands of those people who sought to kill Him.

Let us start practicing this quality in our lives from today. If we sincerely ask God to impart this quality on us, He will truly make us meek. What we achieve by being meek?. The incredible promise of inheriting the entire earth. If we are meek, all the people in the world will look at us and start following Jesus. This is true Christianity, and may the Lord help us to be meek. Let me close this post with the following verse

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)

 

The Beatitude series - Part 2 (The mourning over sin)

The Part 1 of this series was an introduction into the Kingdom of Heaven, which Jesus emphasizes in the sermon, and only by a complete dependence on God, We can be part of that Kingdom, and no human efforts or influence will take us near to it.

The setup of God's Kingdom is completely different from that of what we see on this world. It is exactly the opposite. The standard of the Heavenly Kingdom is completely different from that of the world, and if you and I have to be part of that, We have to undergo a complete transition in our spirits.

We start our journey in God's Kingdom when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is the first step. It doesn't end there, but just a start. The remaining part of the journey is authored by the Holy Spirit who lives inside us when we allow Him to rule us. Jesus is giving a detailed account of the rules of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Holy Spirit will empower us to be partakers of this Kingdom.

Matthew 5:4 says "God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.". What is the mourning that Jesus talks about here?. It is mourning about our sins. When we really feel sorry for our sins and seek repentance, God comforts us. To put simply, when we are burdened by sin, we are encouraged to fall back on the Holy Spirit to lift us up, comfort us and set us on the track again. The trouble is when we don't realize this, and go on brooding over the sin and lie fallen. As children of God we have to consciously remember that, till we live in this world we are prone to fall, and the Holy Spirit gives us the power to get up and keep going.

As we can see, we are called to mourn when we sin. This is strikingly different from the world's point of view, as the worldly people are not conscious about sin. They keep going without even realizing it because they are not under the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Holy Spirit is not at work in them. The Kingdom of world belongs to the devil. But, God has given us the privilege to belong to another Kingdom while we live in this world, and we have to always depend on Him to be ruled by Him.

My dear friend, It is not easy to belong to the Kingdom of God. We have to give up many things to be part of this wonderful Kingdom. The world may look very impressive for a while, It may offer many interesting things, but the end will be painful. The Kingdom of God is only for the privileged, whom God hand picks. As Christians, we are offered this privilege and we should never mess this up. I encourage you to pray and meditate over the word of God, and God would definitely lead us when we look up to Him.

The Beatitude series - Part 1 (Realizing the need of God)

The entire juice of Christianity can be found in the beatitudes, or the sermon on the mount. It is a very common passage in the Bible, and so many of us would have read and heard about it numerous times. The question is whether we have taken it into our lives or just left it there. Let the Holy Spirit of God unlock our minds to a complete understanding and application of these priceless pearls of wisdom which our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed to His disciples.

I welcome each of you who join with me on this journey in pursuit of the treasure of wisdom found in each of this verses. I would request you to read this with prayer, and I want to also acknowledge that only the Spirit of God can open our eyes and hearts to understand these wonderful truths. Let us begin the journey.....

First of all, the setup of the sermon venue is very striking. Jesus chose a very calm and natural place amidst the mountains to emphasize that if we want to listen to God's voice, then we must be separated from the hustles and bustles of the world. God can work only on individuals who consciously choose to honor Him, and take timeouts to be in His presence. Friend, if you are so busy doing many things in the world, even if it is ministry, I encourage you to take some time and be alone with God. This is the best refreshment that you can get.

Alright, let us get straight and hit the nail. Matthew 5: 3 says "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs." (NLT)

Jesus starts the entire sermon with this beautiful verse. In this world, we have a great division between the rich and poor. But, from the perspective of God, you are rich if you are in Him, and poor without Him. It is as simple as that. Worldly riches and fame are nothing when compared with the greatness of an awesome God.

I feel so good when I realize that Christian life is very simple. But, we are trying to complicate it too much by bringing our own assumptions and ideologies into the equation. When we learn to take God's word at its face value, then we get the right perspective. Even if you own everything in this world, and yet if you don't know God, you are the poorest person in this world. The Bible says in Mark 8:36  that "What shall it benefit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his own soul"

It is true that we try to accomplish so many things in this world. All these are just for identity and security. I want to tell you that none of the worldly accomplishments would give us neither identity nor security. These can never be sourced from tangible things. Our true identity and security can only be found in an omnipresent, omnipotent and all powerful God. It is only when we realize this great secret, our priorities will fall in place.

This is what Christ says in the opening verse of the sermon on mount. To put it in very simple terms, I would attempt like this " You and I can enter the Kingdom of God only if we choose to rely on God for our identity and security by realizing and acknowledging our bankruptcy and nothingness".

Accepting differences

The world would be very much better if people learn to accept the differences in one another. Everyone of us want to impose our views and thoughts on others, but not willing to give room to other's opinions and views. This, I feel is the major reason for all the problems in our family and professional lives.

We know that God has created each person unique. Each of us have a certain liking, mindset, habits etc...that exist from our birth or acquired during the course of life. This is extremely normal. But, when we live in a community or family, We are not alone, but have to interact and with others. This is where, it is extremely important to behave properly, adjusting and making us flexible enough so that life becomes interesting.

There are so many people who are very frustrated, because of the inability to live together in a society. They want to impose their ideologies and thoughts on others, and they want everybody to adjust and dance to their tunes. This is highly unlikely to happen, and the basic expectation itself is wrong. Friction starts to develop in the relationships and in due course of time, everything comes to a bitter end.

Some of the common places where we see these kinds of problems today are

1. On the roads, where one driver wants to dominate the other
2. In families, where each spouse wants to control the other
3. In workplaces, where each colleague wants to impose their ideas on others

I am not saying that we need to live without any ideologies of principles, it is very much important to have those, but all these ideologies and principles should result in uplifting our society, and make us to live in peace. This, then is what the very famous phrase "Unity in Diversity" teaches us. It is just that we have heard it many times, yet have not followed it.