Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Strength, Security, and the Beatitudes

For all our technological advances, people haven't really changed much since the time of Jesus. Nowhere is this more evident than in the way most people view the Beatitudes. Then as now, they represent what the world would consider weakness and softness. After all, who wants to be poor, meek, and persecuted? ...

But when we look at Jesus, we realize that he is the both the perfect example of the Beatitudes lived out and also the strongest and most secure person who walked the earth. Jesus was nobody's fool and he was certainly no shrinking violet. At the same time, he was constantly mourning over those who didn't know God. In silent strength -- meekness -- he taught his disciples by example, by parable, by reaching out to everyone who would accept him.

Perhaps if we thought more about Jesus, or tried to place ourselves among the crowds who heard him teach and saw him minister, we would change our point of view... We might see that living the Beatitudes requires a good amount of strength and decisiveness.
Word Among Us

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