People Look For A Savior

When John received news of the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples to him. They asked Jesus if he is the expected Messiah, or someone else. Jesus told them to report what they are witnessing: "The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." (Matthew 11:5)

For me, the Messiah is evident, at work and present when the events of verse 5 is happening. If such things are happening, should you go look for another Messiah? And if those things are not happening, is the Messiah present?

Only Jesus is capable of doing all of those things! As His disciples, we should continue to allow Him to do those things by being His representatives. We should always have Him in our hearts. We should always let Him work through us!

It means we should always be with the poor, the blind, the deaf, the oppressed, the needy, the darkened... We should always be at the battlegrounds! Lying at rest hinders the work of Jesus Christ!

Greater Righteousness (How much is okay to God?)

This is my devotion from Matthew 5, v.17-20.

          Jesus came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it, as said in verse 17. It means that was the reason for his first coming, and it should have been accomplished by that coming. In verse 18, he said that nothing shall be removed or edited from law UNTIL the law is fulfilled. "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (v. 19)

          But the next verse (v. 20) is important. "For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." If you have THE SAME or LESS righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you WILL NOT enter the Kingdom of God! You SHALL IN NO CASE enter the kingdom of heaven.

          As of the moment, the entire truth of v. 19 is unknown to me. What I understand about it is that we should not live as hypocrites. We should walk the talk. I do not understand why both of the examples are still called least or great in the kingdom of heaven.

          But I think what Jesus is saying is this: I am the true and only feasible righteousness in the eyes of God. The righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees depend on their compliance to the law of God. And we know that no one could ever fully accomplish all that is written in the law. The Pharisees in Jesus' time are even worse, for they are hypocrites. Still, hypocrite or not, their righteousness will not grant them entry into the kigdom of God.

          We need a greater righteousness. That righteousness is the one from Jesus Christ. He is the only one who has truly fulfilled the law. That is actually the reason why he came. And that righteousness is His gifts for us; we only need to receive it. That righteousness supersedes man's best attempt at righteousness. That is the righteousness that can grant us entry into the kingdom of heaven.

          Jesus Christ then went on to discuss the futility of man to attempt to be truly righteous on his own. Verses 19 and the following offer brutal options in order for man to have more chances of pursuing righteousness. Righteousness is extremely hard. In fact Jesus said that it is "humanly impossible" (on the incident with the rich man)

          And the chapter ended with him saying "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

Beatitudes!

I read Matthew 5, and I tried to understand what the Beatitudes is all about...


On the beautitudes, Jesus is saying, in essence, that those who follow and imitate Him are blessed. No matter what their situation is, they are blessed. You may not realize it but you really are blessed. And the rewards in the afterlife heavily outweigh our earthly throes! And those rewards are sure! You will receive them! In the terminology of the world, you are very lucky!

Even when you are poor, you are blessed! Even if you are persecuted, you are blessed, and you will be more! Even if you feel inadequate or unskilled, you are actually still blessed you just don't see what God sees in you!

But Jesus continued on to explain that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. You have a purpose! You are not blessed for no reason! You have a design! You are supposed to bless others! You are supposed to put flavor in the world! You are supposed to be the light!

How will that be possible? Well, didn't Jesus change the course of history, impacting it eternally? Didn't Jesus just become the best idea for man about God and love? Didn't Jesus become the light and hope for all the people? AND AREN'T YOU THE ONE FOLLOWING AND IMITATING HIM!? If so, then being the salt and light of the world is VERY POSSIBLE!

Being a Christian without impact is questionable... Having the blessings of the Beautitudes is useless if they are not shared. V. 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."