“Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)The blessed life is not merely being fortunate or successful; it is a life approved by God. That is the heartbeat of the Beatitudes. Jesus is not handing us slogans; He is describing what the children of God actually look like as His work takes root within. We move up the staircase of the Beatitudes from how we inter...  Read More

"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)When Jesus speaks of the "pure in heart" in Matthew 5:8, He's describing someone who has experienced at least four essential heart transfor...  Read More

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26)We're experts at diagnosing the wrong problem. We look at our lives – the places we go, the things we see, the words we speak – and think we have a behavior problem. "If only I could stop doing this," we tell ourselves. "If only I could start...  Read More

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank." (Daniel 1:8)The pure in heart don't drift into purity; they decide beforehand. They don't accidentally maintain integrity in a corrupt culture; they purpose to remain undefiled. Matthew 5:8 says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." An...  Read More

"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" (John 3:3)Have you ever wondered why some people can look at a sunset and see only colors and clouds, while others see the signature of God? The difference isn't in what they're looking at, but in how they see. Jesus told Nicodemus: "Unless one is born again, he cannot see ...  Read More

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)There was a lady by the name of Annie Penkala. She was 62 but she was born blind and could not see at all. She was married, had friends and associates that she interacted with regularly. She heard them and imagined what the sounds looked like, but she couldn't see.A procedure to remove cataracts had been invented about 40 years ...  Read More

"Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." -- Ephesians 4:32Remember the story Jesus shared about the man who owed millions and millions of dollars to the king (Matthew 18:23-35)? The king said, "You're going to pay." And the man said, "I can't pay." So the king forgave him of his debt. But that man, who had been forgiven a great debt, went t...  Read More

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." – Romans 12:21Our natural instinct, apart from Christ, is to seek justice or even revenge when we've been wronged. I'm reminded of a story about a man who served as an umpire for recreational baseball games in his spare time. One summer, he was driving too fast and got pulled over by a police officer. He tried desperately to come up with e...  Read More

"Do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with partiality." – James 2:1There was a young lady from a poorer neighborhood who attended this well-to-do church, a wealthy congregation. When she approached the pastor about joining, he wasn't sure if she would be received well. So he said, "I tell you what, go home and read your Bible every single day, and then at the end of the week you come bac...  Read More

"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all." – 1 Thessalonians 5:14Sometimes, what appears to be rudeness, inconsideration, or even malice may actually be the result of pain we know nothing about. Stephen Covey shared a story about being in a subway car where all the adults were quietly reading newspapers. Suddenly, a man...  Read More

"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." – Matthew 5:7Have you ever tried merging onto a highway in heavy traffic? You're on the on-ramp, traffic is heavy, and your road is going away. You've got to merge onto the highway, but no one is letting you in. You're trying, but you're about to run out of road. So what do you do? You squeeze your car onto that highway, and next thing you k...  Read More

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6, NKJV)There's something uniquely powerful about the promises of Jesus. Unlike human promises that often come with fine print or conditional clauses, Jesus makes absolute statements. And here in the fourth beatitude, He offers a guarantee that should capture our attention: "they shall be filled."Not ...  Read More