“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt.5:7).
The first four principles of the disciple's character are
related to one's inner life; the remaining five speak of the active side of our
character in its relation to others. For
those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, love expressed as mercy
toward others will be the evidence of such righteousness. Mercy is a principle of conduct as well as
character in the life of the disciple. (Sermon
on the Mount).
The wonderful promise to those who show mercy is that
"they shall obtain mercy" (Prov. 18:24; Matt. 7:2).
Jesus states in
Matthew 7 the principle that we are to be judged on is the same basis of our
treatment of others.
Do you, for example, ask God to forgive you your trespasses,
while at the same time you have resentment or an unforgiving spirit toward
others?
Then Jesus warns that "if ye do not forgive, neither
will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark
11:25-26; Matt. 6:12).
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God”
(5:8).
As being merciful speaks of our relation toward our fellow
man, purity of heart describes our relation toward God. If our Spirit life is anything, it is purity
of heart, holiness, and godliness.
The term "purity" means "to be clean." It is, therefore, to have clean desires,
affections, thoughts, and motives. In
contrast, it is said of the wicked that "out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, blasphemies"
(Matt. 15:19).
The promised reward to the pure in heart is that "they shall see God." Sin or impurity of heart acts as a veil and obscures our vision of God. His Word is no longer illuminated to our hearts, and our prayers remain unanswered (Isaiah 59:1-2; Hebrews 12:14).
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of God” (5:9).
This refers to the
manifestation of love in the daily conduct of Jesus' disciples in their
personal relationships with others. In a world filled with hate, riots, social
unrest, jealousy, greed, addictions, selfishness, strife, and war, the
spirit-led disciple is characterized as a man of peace, as well as one who
seeks to make peace with all with whom he comes in contact.
The New Testament clearly teaches nonresistance as
the passive side of Christian character (Matt. 5:38-39) and peacemaking
as the active side (5:9; I Peter 3:8-11).
The disciple who would follow Jesus and be like Him has
peace in his own heart (Isa. 26:3), follows after peace with all men (Hebrews
12:14; Romans 12:18), and seeks to promote peace between all men (Matt. 5:9;
Prov. 12:20; James 3:18).
The promise is that "they shall be called the sons of
God." By virtue of this
characteristic, they shall be like God's Son, who is the Prince of Peace.
The doctrine of nonresistance is not for the unregenerate,
nor for the “carnal” Christian who is weak in the faith and who feels he must
resort to force in order to assert his so-called "rights" and defend
himself at the cost of others.
All he indicates thereby is that he lacks the faith and
willingness to suffer persecution with Christ, and that he lacks the spirit of
humility to "turn the other cheek," but must avenge himself and
return evil for evil.
People are going to make us angry but we are not to let it
get the better of us. We must not let
anger cloud our thinking. As Proverbs
29:22 says, an angry person starts fights and commits all kinds of sin.
Keep quiet and pray!
Seek God for the right way to handle the situation and for a solution as
well as restoration. He knows the answer
and the hearts of all involved. He will
tell you when to speak and when to be silent, when to walk and when to wait.
Sometimes it is smarter not to speak at all while we are
angry. We should wait until we have had
time to calm down, think clearly and pray.
James 3:5 tells us that what we say in the heat of the
moment can cause a great deal of harm. A
word spoken in anger is just like a tiny spark that starts a forest fire. It
cannot be taken back once it has left your mouth.
Revenge doesn’t belong to me. (Romans 12:19-21)
This may be the hardest part of His Word because it involves
humility.
God produces supernatural results when we wait upon Him.
When we live lives that are pleasing to God, even our
enemies will be at peace with us. (Proverbs
16:7)
Our thoughts and ways are not God’s, His ways and thoughts
are much higher than ours. So if we
will surrender our free will and do as He directs we will learn to walk deeper
in His ways. We will learn His heart and
have a greater understanding of His ways!
He desires for us to walk in humility which requires dying
to our flesh, emotions, selfish desires and pride.
Through the fire we will burn off pride, selfishness and worldly
ways which will allow the true light of Christ to shine through us. We will display the love of God beyond words! Our actions will speak love!
In order to do this the first thing to die is our
pride. Obedience is the key to this way
of life. When the time comes and you
feel you want to strike out to hurt another, obedience is knocking on your door. Will you open it and obey or will you decide
your feelings are more important than another’s?
Will you use your razor sharp tongue to kill and destroy a
person’s heart and steal their joy or will you step out of yourself and make
the right decision?
Will love prevail?
The choice is yours…….who will you serve: Jesus or your
flesh?
“My dear brothers and sisters,
take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow
to become angry, because human
anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth
and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,
which can save you.” James 1:
19-21 NIV
“Those who consider themselves religious
and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their
religion is worthless.” James 1:26 NIV
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and
Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.
Out of the SAME mouth come praise
and cursing.
My brothers and sisters, this should not be.
Can both fresh water and salt water flow
from the same spring? My
brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” James 3: 9-12 NIV
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