“Blessed
are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are
hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you
shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and
revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice
in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so
their fathers did to the prophets” (Luke 6:20-23 ESV).
What is it about the unredeemed human heart
that lends itself to hate the good and seek evil? What is it about the redeemed human heart
that in a moment’s time it too can fall into the sin of wounding and hurting
others despising the pathways of God in doing good to those that hurt us? If we
are born again unto God and empowered by His Spirit … we should follow Him in
all encounters and relationships.
We know that we can grieve the Spirit of
God (Ephesians 4:30-31) and this happens by our reverting back to the natural tendencies
of unredeemed heart. It is in the unredeemed heart where hurt turns to
bitterness, anger is the ordinary, evil that is done against you becomes the
justification to do evil unto others and contention leads to striking back to
injure in word or deed.
We are blessed with new life when we
leave the old ways of the unredeemed heart.
It is what Jesus promises in the Beatitudes and what the Holy Spirit
delivers when sin is left behind and His empowerment is sought. The power of the darkness of sin lives in the
unredeemed heart and lurks below the surface of believers to lure us momentarily
back into the hopelessness of sin. The way
out of the darkness is Christ who is the Light of the world and we need to
remember to always turn to the Light not only for salvation but for daily
living. New life is only found in His
ways.
"And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from
you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesian 4:30-32 ESV).
Daily Reading … Luke 6 & Ephesians 4
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