Christine's Blog (2,611)

This is a Blessing?! Matthew 5.10-12

If you are a devoted follower of Christ, you might want to keep it to yourself, or you just might face trouble. How much trouble depends on where you live. To keep quiet or stand for Jesus … hmmm. In a final beatitude, Jesus makes a promise and a reward—but in this case, it is definitely a bad news, good news thing.

Isis is on an all-out campaign not just to persecute Christians but to murder as many as possible. When they take Christian…

Do You Have Peace? Matthew 5.9

Peace, peacemaking, peacekeeping. We have talked all around it, but now I must ask you a question:

Do you have inner peace?

In all honesty, I can say that for the most part, I have peace~

~in my heart ~in my soul ~in my mind ~and usually in my body.

Yesterday, my peace was tested, so I can say that it is so. I had a Rudyard Kipling moment … several of them actually! “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing…

Blessed are the Peacemakers. Matthew 5.9

Have you ever climbed to the top of Half Dome1, Gangirwal2 or even Mount Kenya3? If so, you have some sense of ‘arriving’, right? Well, you and I are about to arrive at the crest or the top rung of the ladder of the Beatitudes.

In truth, I could personally revisit the Beatitudes again and again—that is how much they have grabbed and challenged me--so beautiful, yet so vital to living and loving the way Christ would have us.

Note…

God, give me a pure heart! Matthew 5.8

It is nighttime and I am flying over the farmland of California, winging my way back home from Northern California, where I attended an event to honor the birth of my niece’s newborn baby girl, just two months old. Looking at her, complete innocence . . . lack of guilt; one could say, pure in heart. Hmmm . . . step a little closer please—not so sure.

You will remember that Jesus was becoming quite a sensation, teaching people about…

What is Mercy All About? The fifth beatitude – Matthew 5.7

Unless you had a religious upbringing, the word ‘mercy’ probably doesn’t make itself into your vocabulary too much, or unless you are from the South and use it as an exclamation, ‘Mercy!’

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Mercy is a multi-faceted jewel. How I am enjoying the beauty of the Beatitudes Jesus is teaching! If we can but comprehend them, and then seek God in such a way that the…

Hungry? Thirsty? You’re Alive! Matthew 5.6

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

My sweet Bennett1 seems to catch a lot of colds, which have the propensity to go into croup, and cause his appetite to dissipate. His mommy said to me yesterday, ‘since he is feeling better, he has his appetite back, and is filling out.’ Hunger is indeed an indication of health.

It is never a good sign when a person loses her desire to eat, and…

Meekness is not Weakness. Matthew 5.5

Jesus was the master of paradox.

Last is first.

Giving is receiving.

Dying is living.

Losing is finding.

Least is greatest.

Poor is rich.

Weakness is strength.

Serving is ruling.1

Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ‘A strong statement, deserving our inspection. Step a little closer, please. This third beatitude is rightly ordered and builds off the first two…

Mourning, and thankful.. Matthew 5.4

“What is a beatitude?” a simple enough question, with a more complex answer I do believe. beatitude |bēˈatiˌt(y)o͞od| noun

supreme blessedness. • (the Beatitudes) the blessings listed by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3–11).

"Beatitude is a possession of all things held to be good, from which nothing is absent that a good desire may want.

Perhaps the meaning of beatitude may become clearer to us if it is…

Blessed.  Matthew 5.1-1

Last night I stopped on the way home from a long grueling day to get a bite to eat, and send out Morning Briefings. The shop owner came and sat down, inquiring about what I was writing. (Always happy to oblige that question!) After finding out my new friend is a Christian, I asked him what he thought about the Beatitudes. He had an interesting response—kinda…

WHO IS JESUS?

It all started when they came to their local San Clemente beach to see a longtime friend get baptized by his dad and me. I can see their two beautiful young faces so clearly in my mind . . . one dark, the other light; one had a strong football build, the other a tall, lean volleyball build; one has grown up in a Hindu household, the other a family who didn’t talk too much about God, didn’t believe in church either. Both were curious high school students, coming…

Calling and Purity—their relationship. Matthew 5.8

It is called plate spinning. You’ve seen it, right? Where a juggler gets one plate (and then another), spinning on the end of the pole, and just as sure as it appears that one plate will peter out and fall, the juggler keeps it alive, and soon there are four plates spinning! I love the visual, and it certainly fits—for me. On one spinning plate in my head, I have Jesus’ calling of his first disciples, on another plate, teaching on…