Connect In: Christ-like Attitude
September 14, 2015
Tammy Priest, Executive Assistant to the Senior Pastor
Jesus began His Sermon on the Mount with reassuring words
about the struggles and aspirations of the human heart. Those who grieve will
be comforted. The merciful will receive mercy.
The persecuted will be rewarded. The last will be first. These words
still encourage weary souls today.
Yet Jesus' words bring more than just comfort. The
Beatitudes teach what it means to have a Christ-like attitude, both in our
posture toward God and our relationships with others. The key is that each proclamation calls us to
look beyond ourselves with an eternal perspective.
The first Beatitude reminds us that, on our own, we are
spiritually poor. Not one of us can save ourselves; we all need Christ's
atoning redemption. The Beatitudes build from there, because we must not only
look beyond ourselves for salvation, we must look beyond ourselves for perspective.
We are blessed - right now, present tense--because of what God
promises we will receive later.
When we embrace this eternal perspective, we are both freed
and called to have an attitude that looks beyond our own circumstances to meet
the needs of others. To comfort and forgive, to show mercy and speak peace.
Just as Jesus, for the joy set before Him on the other side of the Cross,
placed the deep needs of others above His own rights and momentary comfort.
As you contemplate the blessings Jesus proclaims in Matthew
5, consider how you might bless others in response, building community with the
perspective of eternity.
TWEETABLE QUOTE: Eternal perspective frees & calls us 2
look beyond ourself 2 meet the needs of others. @tammy_priest @Calvary_Now
@CalvaryWest #RareElements
