Archives: Pastors' Corner

Have you ever had anyone come to you and say, “I’d like you to bring me glory.”  I doubt that such a sentence has ever come to your ears, and if it has, I doubt it was received very well.  Human beings don’t take very kindly to the idea of bringing glory to others…at least we don’t want to think of it that way.  But in fact, when you recommend a restaurant, you bring that restaurant “glory”.  If someone works on your car and you recommend him to a friend, you have brought “glory” to your mechanic.  But we don’t […]

Light is an amazing thing.  We get light from the sun; an incredible amount of light that travels through space and “arrives” here on earth.  We can also create artificial light through electricity.  Light is quickly able to dispel the darkness.  A flip of a switch or the pulling up of a shade changes the entire character of a room.  Also, it only takes a little bit of light to be able to see.  We are the same way as followers of Jesus.  As the “light of the world” we have an amazing, God-given ability to change the character of […]

We have all been in situations where we desperately need light to see what is in the room.  Most of us have stubbed our toes or bumped into things that were right in front of us; simply because it was dark and we couldn’t see.  Just a little bit of light goes a long way in helping us to see things in front of us.  Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:14-15:  14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a […]

After the beatitudes, Jesus uses two metaphors, salt and light, to describe how His followers should live in this world  The first one Jesus uses is salt and here is what He says in Matthew 5:13:  13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.  Over the years there have been many interpretations offered for what Jesus meant by comparing His followers to salt.  He could have meant that salt is a preservative and […]

Jesus closes out the Beatitudes with some very profound words on persecution in Matthew 5:10-12:  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. I would say that most of the blessings that are associated with the beatitudes are “future blessings” with a hint of “right now” blessing as seen from […]

Peace…what an interesting word.  The word “peace” means many things to many people, sort of depending on where you are on your timeline of life.  For the parents of a newborn, peace means sleep and quiet.  For the parents of teenagers, peace may mean the absence of conflict and yelling between siblings…and occasionally parents! Peace is a very important word to Jesus and to His followers.  The good news of Jesus Christ is called “the gospel of peace”.  We are told that when we receive Jesus as Savior we will have “peace with God”.  That implies that without Jesus we […]

We’ll continue with looking at the beatitudes.  Today we think about Matthew 5:8:  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”.  That’s a promise that I would like to see fulfilled in my life…seeing God. What does it mean to be “pure in heart”?  As many of you know, the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language.  The word “pure” is a term that was often used of a metal that had been refined until all impurities were removed, leaving only the pure metal.  In that sense, purity means unmixed, unalloyed, unadulterated.  Someone has said […]

Today’s beatitude focus is Matthew 5:7:  “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy”.  A pretty easy verse to memorize but a verse that is not so easy to live out. Let’s begin by talking about what “mercy” is.  A very common definition of mercy is “not getting the punishment I deserve”.  It is a pretty simple definition but I think it’s a good one.  When we extend mercy to someone, we are not punishing or giving them the full consequence that he/she deserves.  We are holding back in some way.  God is often described as having great mercy.    […]

I decided to stick with yesterday’s beatitude for one more day…I did mention that it was my favorite one! An Old Testament passage that “agrees” with Matthew 5:6 from yesterday is Isaiah 55:1-2.  Here it is:  “Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.  2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.” It is pretty clear that the prophet Isaiah […]

I apologize for not getting a blog entry out for the 18th and doing the one for the 19th when the day is almost over.  It’s been a bit of a hectic week and this slipped my mind yesterday and today. The beatitude that I’m focusing on now is Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”  This is probably my favorite one.  The words “hunger and thirst” are words that describe basic human needs.  No one can go without food and no one can go without drink.  And the way that […]