Thought for March 3

 History:

  • 1791: Congress establishes the US Mint
  • 1794: African Episcopal Methodist Church founded
  • 1812: First foreign aid bill--to help earthquake victims in Venezuela
  • 1837: Supreme Court grows from 7 to 9
  • 1871: Civil Service system established
  • 1873: Comstock Law--prohibits sending obscene materials through the mails
  • 1885: AT&T incorporates
  • 1887: Anne Sullivan begins teaching Helen Keller
  • 1900: US Steel organized
  • 1921: Discovery of insulin announced
  • 1923: First issue of Time Magazine
  • 1933: Mount Rushmore dedicated
  • 1991: Rodney King beaten on video
  • 2020: Tornadois kill 25 in Tennessee
  • Born: George Pullman, Alexander Graham Bell, Charles Ponzi, Jean Harlow, Herschel Walker, Jessica Biel
  • Died: Alfieri Maserati, Lou Costello,  Willaim Frawley ["I Love Lucy"], Danny Kaye, Arthur Murray, Albert Sabin, Harlan Howard [songwriter], Roger Bannister
Thought:
Continuing to look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 this morning. 
  • God blesses those who are merciful. Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve, while grace is receiving something you do not deserve. Am I merciful? Someone hits me and they deserve to be hit back--mercy is not hitting them back. Maybe this is what Jesus has in mind in 5:38-42. Someone says something bad about me, I don't respond by saying something bad about them. They deserve it, but I show mercy. Now the Lord is working on me--something bad happens to someone and I say, they deserved it or maybe they got what was coming to them. Recall Jonah, he didn't want Nineveh saved, he wanted them to get what they deserved. That's why we are amazed when a brother shows up in court and pleads for mercy for the one that killed their loved one--mercy. And look at the blessing--when we are merciful, we receive mercy from the Lord. I have already received so much mercy from the Lord that I should have no choice but to extend mercy. 
  • God blesses the pure in heart. WOW! That is a problem because my heart is not pure. I speak with Isaiah--a man of unclean lips before a holy God. I have heard it said that this beatitude is for those who are single minded in seeking God, seeking purity, seeking Him. We know that we are not pure, but in the power of the holy spirit we are being purified, refined so that the Master can see His reflection in us. And the blessing--we see God. Yes, one day, we will see Him face to face [think about 1 Corinthians 13, now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face]. But this verse means more--I will see God's hand move today, I will experience God's presence in powerful ways, I will see God present in the lives of believers, I will see God transform the lives of believers. The children of Israel saw God when the Red Sea parted or the Jordan River parted, on the manna fell from heaven, or the Assyrians turned on each other. We see God in nature and all around us is we are seeking Him and try to be holy.
Today, Lord help me to be merciful and to seek purity in my heart and life--I know You will bless.

Blessings
Larry

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