If my children hated everything I did for them, hated how I talked, hated how I looked, hated what I said, hated all I bought for them, hated when I said ‘no’, blamed what I did in their lives on Satan. Would that not be equivalent to them hating ME?
Be careful what you call evil or blame Satan for because you might accidentally begin to hate Jesus Himself.
If we summarize the Matthew 5 beatitudes into a list, we can see the list as a preparation or a daily path for Jesus.
Blessed are:
•the poor in spirit
•those who mourn
•the gentle
•those who hunger & thirst for righteousness
•the merciful
•the pure in heart
•the peacemakers
•those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness
•are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me
The beatitudes are like an ongoing path to God, they are a detailed list of what “I die daily” looks like.
It is a daily preparation for the way of the Lord in our lives.
It’s what we need to do which enables Jesus to live through us. Lay your life down and it will look like the list, we will be able to do that list without a problem.
We come to faith by repenting and receiving Christ but for the rest of our lives we let Jesus live through us by daily dying, by letting go of self, by not dominating, by not being right and one upping others.
It’s an easy and light way of living.
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