"Blessed are the poor in spirit" Matthew 5:3
"Beware of placing our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus is a Teacher only, then all He can do is tantalize me by erecting a standard I cannot attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only; He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.
The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says -- Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works."
"He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble." Proverbs 3:34
"Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." 1 Peter 5:6.
This devotional really spoke to me yesterday and I wanted to share it with you. It answers a lot of questions some of us have, don't you think? Read it a couple of times, it makes so much sense. Blessings and comfort to you this Sunday, and always. Have a wonderful day.
And, if you have a few minutes more, please check into SILVERFIDDLE'S POST TODAY.......it's excellent, as usual, and really spoke to me as it might to you.
Z
5 comments:
Beautiful post. Jesus is indeed not just a teacher. He is a multi-faceted diamond.
Oh, and thanks for the bump and the compliment!
Thanks for the post. As usual, I appreciated it. Also, thanks for the heads up on SF's post. I will put his site on my list for regular visits, now.
Have a great weekend.
Z - OC is one of my favorite devotionalists - and I've learned a lot from My Utmost For His Highest - having studied it since about twenty years ago - or more.
Thanks for today's Sunday Faith Blog.
Hope your day has been good.
thanks, friends....I hope you've had a grand weekend, too.
I'm getting emails on this wonderful Chambers piece and can see through sitemeter that it's being read. THere isn't really much one can say, is there. Particularly if one hasn't considered this information before.
beautiful stuff.
God bless.
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