TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:5-6
Read: Matthew 5:1-10
Listen: Matthew 5
TODAY’S MESSAGE
Jesus begins his ministry by teaching people about God’s kingdom in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. He reveals the foundation of a blessed, Kingdom-oriented life begins with a restored relationship with God. Last week, we heard that we are blessed when we come to God poor in spirit—recognizing we bring nothing, and Jesus brings everything. We are blessed when we mourn our sins. These foundational teachings, often called the Beatitudes, build on each other.
This week, we see that Jesus moves on to explain people are blessed when they submit their strength in meekness and feel their lack. According to Jesus, true blessing begins when we pursue the things we desperately want and need through God instead of on our own. His definition of blessing is backward from the world’s view that urges us to claw and climb our way to success and fulfillment at any cost.
We all have cravings and needs but don’t view ourselves as blessed when those go unmet. Through the teachings this week, Jesus promises God will fill us and give us what we truly need if we trust God with these things. We find satisfaction the world can never offer when we surrender our strength and will to submit our unmet needs and desires to God.
IN YOUR CHAIR TIME TODAY
Surrender your strength, will, cravings and needs to God in prayer and ask God to help you understand God’s backward blessing for you this week. “God, I come to you in meekness and offer the areas I feel strong to you. I submit my life to you. I give my cravings and needs to you. Help me trust you today. Amen.”
NEW TESTAMENT READING PLAN
Join us this year as we read through the New Testament.
Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 3.
