THE JESUS PAGES: Matthew 5

Friday, January 8, 2021

The Jesus Pages: Words of Warning

Matthew 5:27-48

"You have heard it said . . ." And everything you heard was wrong. You followed rules you thought would make you righteous and Jesus comes along and knocks you down from your self-proclaimed throne of righteousness. He says, "Start over."

Start over? You mean I've been wasting my time? And I have to do better, be perfect? Well, now I'm paralyzed. I can't do all that extra stuff. I'm not God! Exactly! Only righteous people can be righteous and perfect and anything less God will not accept.

Give as God gives, live as God lives, love as God loves. Now that this has immobilized you, realize that only God can do these things on your behalf. Unless He moves you to be like Him, you won't be. He is the power source - go plug yourself in.

The Jesus Pages is my journey through the New Testament in one year. I invite you to come along, read the Bible passage and leave comments. (If it's nasty or unrelated, I reserve the right to delete it.)

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.

Thursday, January 7, 2021

The Jesus Pages: Words of Hope

Matthew 5: 1 - 26

Are you poor, sad, weak, meek? Empty, messy, battered, bitter and want to get better? Good news - Jesus to the rescue. If you see your lack of goodness, if you hunger for mercy and righteousness and peace, then you're on the right track. Jesus recognizes we are broken and He doesn't judge us. It's when we try to use our own super glue and flimsy patches to mend ourselves that we end up losing.

He reminds us that it is in the desire and hunger to be fixed that there is redemption. We throw ourselves at His feet and ask for His magic tape so that we can be permanently repaired. Then, then - we can now be used to help others. We are salt, taking the flavor of Jesus to the tasteless world. We become light and hope and truth. And, at times, we can use His Magic Tape to bind up the broken parts of people we encounter.

Scripture links are from The Bible Gateway, New International Version.