Last night I was continuing my read through of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and as I read I came across a passage of that I have previously perused undoubtedly hundreds of times. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) had been under previous circumstances ‘sunday schooled’ out; but with a newly developing mindset, seemingly tired material sprang to new literary life. Its amazing what happens when you apply scripture to your own life, encouragement in the most true sense. It gives ‘hope’ for those who struggle or who are week. Hope has been an infuriating word to me over the last couple of months in particular. It was starting to get to the point where hope in regards for my career to get on track and things to improve was all but gone. Hope turned into a cynical sneer, a brush off, a complete abandonment of faith. A dark burden still haunting me, but there is hope with a change of mindset. ‘Blessed are those who are poor in spirit’ let that be me and be glad in it. The Beatitudes is altruism defined. This selfless behavior still gives me a twinge of frustration, and is one of many places that will have to be a point of emphasis for me.
Blessed are those who care.
As I was starting the second chapter of reading (once again) ‘The End of Religion’ by Bruxy Cavey I was hit by a quote he used from Kierkegaard.
‘Act just once in such a manner that your action expresses that you fear God alone and man not at all--you immediately in some measure cause a scandal’
What a challenging statement, for too long I have lived in fear of what people think of me, what I say, and how I act; probably still some of the after affects of my childhood. When all along I should have been thinking of how I measure to God’s standards. Disturbingly backwards in my approach and something that had crept into my lifestyle over the last couple of years.
An encouraging and Challenging time brought from actual time of meditation on scripture and devotional reading. It’s funny what you can hear when you shut up.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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