Hope Alliance Bethlehem

Life is filled with choices - so many in fact, that it is often overwhelming. In order to make the most of our life and build margin, we have to know how to make the right choices. Scripture offers two critical questions to ask when facing choices and new opportunities. First, "Is it wise?" And second, "Is it the best?" In both of these, we often need to have the courage to say "no" to many good things in order to be able to say "yes" to the best things.

How our life's story unfolds is directly related to who we let tell our story. The world around us is trying to tell our story by asking, "What can you do for me?" This leads us to tell our own story by how we measure up. And all of this leads to a life without margin, always trying to prove ourselves. But God desires to tell an altogether different story - that you are loved simply because you are you. And his story of life invites you into a life the brings rest for your soul.

When Jesus says it is blessed to be persecuted, he isn't referring to bringing on persecution in your own righteousness. That is simply being a hypocrite or being obnoxious. He says blessed are those who are willing to align themselves with me even at the cost of their own status in this world. Therefore, even in the face of persecution the follower of Jesus can rejoice because he knows his identity in Jesus is secure.

In order to be a peacemaker, we must first receive peace. This is what it means to be called children of God. The gospel is the wonderful news that a God who we have made war against our entire life is willing to cross the battle lines and offer not just a cease fire, but a full reconciliation. In fact, at the cost of his own life, Jesus makes is possible for us to be called children of God - fully adopted into God's family. This is our only hope for peace.

To be pure in heart is to be free from sin. But to be able to see God we need to be pure in heart. Therein lies the central human problem - the very thing we were created to do and be we cannot do and be. The glory of the gospel is that Jesus was and is all that we cannot be and invites us into the presence of our Creator through his purity and his sacrifice.

Our mercifulness does not earn God's mercy for us. Rather our mercifulness is evidence that we have received God's mercy. So, just as God's mercy is driven by his covenant faithfulness and costly forgiveness and self sacrifice, so too should our mercy be driven to those around us.

To hunger and thirst for righteousness at its core is to seek acceptance and approval. This is a universal human reality. Far too often, we seek this through worldly affirmation or religious achievement. However, true acceptance is only found in the one who knows you for who you really - God himself. Jesus offers his own righteousness for those who hunger and thirst. And those who receive it will never hunger or thirst again.

At first glance the word meek is so lackluster - who wants to be meek? But a closer look helps us see a person who remains powerful, but now under the influence of the Spirit and deeply formed by the gospel. And in the end, Jesus is really the only truly meek one. And therefore it is only through our connection to him that we enter the kingdom he offers.

Blessed are those who mourn...really? Definitely! When Jesus speaks these words he is not referring to a constant state of doom or negativity, but to a sorrowful awareness of sin. The presence of sin in our world and in us should give us a somber perspective that things are not the way God created them to be and there is nothing we can do to fix it. And then we experience the radical comfort of knowing that Jesus has done and will do what we cannot.