Devotional

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 Today, America is the richest, most affluent, most materialistic nation on the planet. We’ve got it better than anybody. But the more materialistic our culture becomes, the less satisfied people are. The natural man hungers and thirsts for fulfillment, […]

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 If you were to ask the rich or powerful men of the world, “What is the secret to your success?” none of them would say, “It’s meekness—walking in utter humility and not trusting in yourself.” No, these guys are powerbrokers. We have seen […]

“Blessed are the meek” Matthew 5:5. The world extols the strong and powerful, the self-assured and confident, the assertive and aggressive. But Jesus tells us just the opposite: “Blessed are the meek” (5:5). This trait of meekness is often misunderstood. People think a feeble or cowardly person is meek. That’s not meek; that’s weak. Meekness […]

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” Matthew 5:4. I once heard of a leading Muslim cleric in Britain telling a Christian leader, “If Christians lived what Jesus taught in the Gospels and in the New Testament, Islam would not have a chance of advancing.” He pointed out a real problem: a […]

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” Matthew 5:4. The teaching of the Bible and the philosophy of the world are totally opposite from each other. For example, Jesus said in this second Beatitude, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4). The world regards a statement like this as totally unthinkable. How […]

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 5:3. There are two effects of the gospel: it wounds before it heals. Before we can rise to blessedness, we have to be brought low—we have to recognize that we are sinners. Spiritual bankruptcy doesn’t sound like a desirable state, but […]

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 It is very hard for any of us to honestly evaluate ourselves. We show all kinds of preferences toward ourselves that we wouldn’t show toward anybody else, so we tend to see ourselves as better than we are. This is […]

Seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them. Matthew 5:1–2 This sermon of Jesus, found in Matthew 5–7, is as relevant and striking in the modern world as it was when the Lord first delivered it. […]

“These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’: ‘I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little […]

“The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation.” C. S. Lewis, Miracles On Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation—God becoming flesh. “Every other miracle prepares for this. … it was the central event in the history of the Earth—the very thing the whole story has been about” (Lewis, Miracles). That’s really profound, if you think […]