There are some things that are obvious. You can tell when it is fall because the
weather changes and the color of the leaves change around. You can tell things about people as well. Some things are just very obvious. There ought to be some characteristics that
are various obvious about Christians.
In His sermon on the mount Jesus shared what we call the
beatitudes about some things that happen in the life of His followers. Are these obvious in your life?
God blesses
those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. 4 God blesses those
who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 God blesses those who are
humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. 6 God blesses those
who hunger and thirst for justice, for
they will be satisfied. 7 God blesses those who are
merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 God blesses those whose hearts
are pure, for they will see God. 9 God blesses those who work for
peace, for they will be called the children of God. 10 God blesses those
who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
The
people who seek God “realize their need for Him”. The word used is poor. We realize that our lives are empty and
useless without Him filling us and us following Him. That fact makes our lives rich as Jesus takes
over.
The
people who seek God also understand the advantage of mourning. That is they are tuned into what pleases God
and to what grieves God. These people
will be comforted by God.
The
people who seek God are humble. We
should not seek to be first or to put others down. Other people are important and need to see
God. Humility helps that happen.
The
people who follow Jesus “hunger and thirst” for God and what is right. We seek God and seek for things around us to
be righteous. That is in our actions and
words. That is helping others comes to
know God. That is when we see injustice
happening that we do something about it.
The
people who seek God share mercy. This is
kindness in action. It steps in to
serves because we recognize when a person needs help.
In
following Jesus we seem to have “hearts that are pure”. Maybe the term innocent. Our motives are pure, and we seek again what
is right. These people have seen the
dishonor of the world and desire to honor God.
It is when we are pure that God receives more and more honor.
The
people who follow Jesus and seek God “work for peace”. The presence of peace doesn’t mean the
absence of war. In the life of the
Christian there is peace even in tough circumstances. How we react to situations demonstrates
whether we have peace or not.
And
finally the people who are running after God know that persecution might
happen. Some people have been put in
jail for believing in and following Jesus.
Through the years Christians have been mocked and treated poorly because
of God. We are blessed in America as we
see only small pieces of this. But we
need to be ready for this possibility.
These
ought to be obvious in our lives. By
following Jesus we point others to Him.
By having obvious characteristics in our lives others will know that we follow
God and that God is good!
In the same
way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise
your heavenly Father.
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