“Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12 ->me: What beautiful words are these?! The last 5 Beatitudes are all about the one thing…killing PRIDE. The merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and the downtrodden. These are all attributes that require humility and self-control. I feel like I am growing in my self-control but my pride is the bane of my existence. It causes me not to run to the feet of my Lord when I am ashamed and guilty, it causes me to with hold grace from people who deserve it far more than I, and it drives me to self-sufficiency which God hates with a passion. BUT…what if I am able to get ahold of this through the power of God’s Spirit within me? Well, verse 12 tells me -> that the reward for the self-controlled, persevering, resolute in righteousness, peacemaker, pure in heart, and merciful will have their GREAT reward in heaven. I get so worked up over the things of this world: my job (pride), my reputation (pride), my comfort (pride), and accomplishments (pride). What if the same ‘worked up’ happened over my church, the lost, the poor, the hurting, the sick, and the people around me who need to hear of the redeeming Salvation of my Savior. What kind of change for the Kingdom might I have with the sole goal of glorifying YAHWEH, the God of all things.
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