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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part VI: Blessed are the Pure in Heart
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8 NET) Have you ever noticed that when you insert an object (e.g., a straw) in a glass of liquid (e.g., water) that the straw looks like it is split in two or bent? A straw looks this way in water because the light is forced to change course or refract when it moves from air into the water. The light will again change course when it leaves the water to go back into the air. However, if there were no liquid in the glass, then the straw would not appear bent (the glass to air transition and…
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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part V: Blessed are the Merciful
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)
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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part IV: Blessed are those that Hunger and Thirst
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6 NET) The Greek word for blessed (i.e., makarios) used here has the meaning of being fortunate, prosperous, or successful. That is, successful are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness! Why? Because they shall be satisfied! Satisfied with what? Righteousness of course! What is righteousness? Glad you asked! Righteousness (1) is the spiritual condition of being found right with, acceptable to, or fully pleasing to God! That is, those that hunger and thirst to be found right with, acceptable to, or fully pleasing to God will find that hunger completely satisfied. The relevant question is…
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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part III: Blessed are the Meek
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NET) The Greek word for blessed (i.e., makarios) used here has a meaning of being fortunate, prosperous, or successful. That is, successful are those that meek! Why? What is it to be meek? First of all, to be MEEK does NOT mean to be WEAK! Rather meekness is strength under control. Picture a feral horse (i.e., a mustang) that expends its great strength by running the fields yet accomplishes little to nothing in the way of work. However, if that same horse is “tamed”, “broken” or “meeked” then that same great strength – that is now under control…
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The Beautiful Attitudes – Part I: Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Understanding the Bible promises us that the fallen world we live in, where evil is called good and good is called evil (1), will never become better but rather become worse and worse until it is replaced (1) – how then should we live? To answer hard questions like this, we should always look to the one that came to Earth to show us the way – Jesus Christ! (John 14:6) What did Jesus say and do when He started His earthly ministry at the age of thirty-two? (1) (Luke 3:21-23) Recall, He started His approximately three and a half year-long Earthly ministry in a time when Rome ruled (1)…
