Matthew 5

Last week Nate and I started getting up in the mornings and starting our day out together reading the Bible and praying. We started in Matthew and have read a chapter each day. Today we read Matthew 5.

Umm...pretty convicting stuff in Matthew 5. The Bible is good for so many things...convicting, motivating, encouraging, comforting, etc. The best thing about it to me is that I feel I get to know Jesus more intimately when I read about his teachings. I've said before that he is the most interesting person in the world to me. I mean that.

There is a lot packed into Matthew 5. Jesus talks about Christians being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." Salt was a valued commodity in Jesus' day. It was expensive and sometimes Romans were even paid with salt. It was used to preserve meat and give flavor to food. Salt must keep it's flavor today to be of any use. We, as Christians, must also keep our "flavor" or we are useless. Jesus also says "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." This was heavy for me because it reminded me how much in the past I have hidden my light and committed bad deeds for others to see. God is changing my heart though and I am hoping that my light shines bright.

The last thing that Jesus talks about in Matthew is loving your enemies. I'll admit that I don't have many enemies and can count on just a few fingers people who might not like me. It is hard to imagine loving those people and praying for them every day. It is not a challenge in the Bible to do that. It is a command. My prayer for myself is to not just say I love my enemies so that I sound a little bit holier, but to really ask God to help me truly love them and pray for them. He talks about how easy it is to love those who love us back. "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" This is so challenging because it is so true. It's easy to love people who are easy to love. The true love of Christ though, shows love to those that are not easy to love.

Matthew 5 touches on so much...adultery, anger, forgiveness, boldness in faith, divorce, broken friendships. All pretty heavy stuff...but the cool thing about being convicted is knowing that Jesus went to the cross with our failures in these areas.

I am so thankful for that.