TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. Matthew 5:1
Read: Matthew 5:1–12
Listen: Matthew 5
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus wants his followers to know what true happiness is. He begins the Sermon on the Mount with a section known as the Beatitudes, which translates to “supremely blessed by God.” People in Jesus’s day believed the more you possessed showed how God was blessing you more. Jesus turns this idea backward by saying God’s favor is on people who may not have the things we see as a material blessing.
Jesus’s eight beatitudes reveal a process of growing closer to God by describing the character qualities of a person in Jesus’s kingdom. Jesus teaches how a kingdom-minded person should relate to God and then how they should relate to each other. Jesus describes spiritual qualities that help us understand what a God-blessed life should look like.
In this new four-week series, we’ll learn being blessed by God is rooted in living a life surrendered to his holy character. It’s about seeing our inadequacy and God’s sufficiency. Jesus wants to grow us into people who see God for who God is—and display God’s mercy, love and peace.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Consider your current view on what it means to be blessed. Begin this series by praying, “Father-God, open my eyes, mind and heart to what is true favor and blessing from you. Help me see that Jesus’s teaching isn’t actually backward, but the true way I should view your heart’s desire for me. Amen.”
NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN
Join us this year as we read through the New Testament.
Today’s reading is Romans 14.
