A modern day miracle would be the story of how a women named Dina Benayon who became involved with Chai Lifetime after helping her sister who was battling a brain tumor. To help her sister out she decided that every Wednesday Dina was going to do something fun with her sister to keep her happy and not worried about the bad things that could happen in her life.
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In my opinion I believe that consumerism and the beatitudes are very different. Consumerism is more of what science believe the way of the Lord worked in many ways but isn't that different from Gods plan. "Blessed are the meek". Christians believe what they hear in the Bible and others choose to believe that all that has happened was because of science. Not everyone is believed to follow the lords ways that's why people choice to be consumers so that they can get maybe a visual that's close enough to what the Bible says.
'Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.' -- MATT. v.10.We have seen the description of the true subjects of the kingdom growing into form and completeness before our eyes in the preceding verses, which tell us what they are in their own consciousness, what they are in their longings, what they become in inward nature by God's gift of purity, how they move among men as angels of God, meek, merciful, peace-bringing. Is anything more needed for complete portraiture, any added touch to the picture? Yes -- what the world is to them, what are its wages for such work, what its perception of such characters. Their relations to it are those of peace-bringers, reconcilers; its to them are those of hostility and dislike. Blessed are the persecuted for righteousness' sake.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God."--Matt. V. 9.
HIS is the last Beatitude descriptive of the character of the Christian. There follows one more, which describes his reception by the world. But this one sets the top stone, the shining apex, upon the whole Temple-structure which the previous Beatitudes had been gradually building up. You may remember that I have pointed out in previous sermons how all these various traits of the Christian life are deduced from the root of poverty of spirit. You may also remember how I have had occasion to show that if we regard that first Beatitude, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," as the root and mother of all the rest, the remainder are so arranged as that we have alternately a grace which regards mainly the man himself and his relations to God, and one which also includes his relations to man. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."— Matt. V. 8.
''"" "T first hearing one scarcely knows whether the character described in this great saying, or the promise held out, is the more inaccessible to men. "The pure in heart," who may they be? Is there one of us that can imagine himself possessed of a character fitting him for the vision of God, or such as to make him bear with delight that dazzling blaze? "They shall see God "; whom "no man hath seen at any time, nor can see." Surely the requirement is impossible, and the promise not less so. But does Jesus Christ mock us with demands that cannot be satisfied, and dangle before us hopes that can never be realised? There have been plenty of moralists and would-be teachers who have done that. What would be the use of saying to a man lying on a battle-field sore wounded, and with both legs shot off, "If you will only get up and run, you will be safe?" What would be the use of telling men how blessed they would be if they were the opposite of what they are? But that is not Christ's way. "Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy."— Matt. V. 7.
HE Divine simplicity of the Beatitudes covers a Divine depth, both in regard to the single precepts and to the sequence of the whole. I have already pointed out that the first of the series is to be regarded as the root and germ of all the subsequent ones. If for a moment we set it aside and consider only the fruits which are successively developed from it, we shall see that the remaining members of the sequence are arranged in pairs, of which each contains, first, a characteristic more inward and relating to the deep things of individual religion; and, second, a characteristic which has its field of action in our relations to men. For example, the " mourners " and the "meek" are paired. Those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and the "merciful" are paired. "The pure in heart" and "the peacemakers" are paired. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."--Matt. V. 6.
WO preliminary remarks will give us the point of view from which I desire to consider these words now. First, we have seen, in previous sermons, that these paradoxes of the Christian life which we call the Beatitudes are a linked chain, or, rather, an outgrowth from a common root. Each presupposes all the preceding. Now, of course, it is a mistake to expect uniformity in the process of building up character, and stages which are separable and successive in thought may be simultaneous and coalesce in fact. But none the less is our Lord here outlining successive stages in the growth of a true Christian life. I shall have more to say about the place in the series which this Beatitude holds, but for the present I simply ask you to remember that it has a background and set of previous experiences, out of which it springs, and that we shall not understand the depth of Christ's meaning if we isolate it from these and regard it as standing alone. 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."— Matt. V. 5.
[|HE originality of Christ's moral teaching lies not so much in the novelty of His precepts as in the new relation in which He sets them, the deepening which He gives them, the motives on which He bases them, and the power which He communicates to keep them. Others before Him had pronounced a benediction on the meek, but our Lord means far more than they did, and, both in His description of the character and in the promise which He attaches, vindicates the uniqueness of His notion of a perfect man. The world's ideal is, on the whole, very different from His. It inclines to the more conspicuous and so-called heroic virtues; it prefers a great, flaring, yellow sunflower to the violet hiding among the grass, and making its presence known only by fragrance. "Blessed are the strong, who can hold their own," says the world. "Blessed are the meek," says Christ. "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted."— Matt. T. 4.
N ordinary superficial view of these socalled Beatitudes is that they are simply a collection of unrelated sayings. But they are a great deal more than that. There is a vital connection and progress in them. The jewels are not flung down in a hoap; they are wreathed into a chain, which whosoever wears shall have " an ornament of grace about his neck." They are an outgrowth from a common root; stages in the evolution of Christian character. "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."--Matt. V. 3.
We are not come unto the mount that burned with fire, nor unto the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of 'awful' words." With such accompaniments the old law was promulgated, but here, in this Sermon on the Mount, as it is called, the laws of the Kingdom are proclaimed by the King Himself; and He does not lay them down with the sternness of those written on tables of stone. No rigid " thou shalt" compels, no iron " thou shalt not" forbids; but each precept is linked with a blessing, and every characteristic that is required is enforced by the thought that it contributes to our highest good. It fitted well Christ's character, and the lips "into which grace is poured," that He spake His laws under the guise of these beatitudes. |
AuthorHello! my name is Megan. I am 14 years and live in Canada. I enjoy drawing and listening to music. ArchivesCategories |