Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Matthew 7:3 “Why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” This comical illustration is taken from the carpenter’s workshop. Jesus used it to press home his teaching about being judgemental. It’s so easy to spot the shortcomings of other people. Jesus wasn’t suggesting that their inadequacies aren’t real, but rather was encouraging us to look at ourselves and recognise that our failings may be much greater than the little failings of others. He wasn’t saying that we should stop identifying the specks in other people’s eyes but that we should start by becoming far more self-aware. How well do you know yourself? It is very easy for all of us to develop annoying habits and attitudes that are so deeply embedded in us that we don’t see them anymore. When someone points out that we are a little short of perfection, we shrug our shoulders and conclude that people just need to take us as they find us. Jesus suggested that this isn’t good enough. We need to let his light shine into our lives so that our shortcomings are revealed, and he can set us free from them in the power of the Spirit. A negatively critical attitude is always damaging. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t reflect honestly and carefully on one another’s actions. But when it turns into a mindset that is continually looking for other people’s failings then it will poison our relationships in terrible ways. Such an attitude often grows when we feel threatened or unsure of ourselves. We lash out at other people because of our longing to find someone else to blame and in the hope that it will make us feel better about ourselves. Jesus urges us not to do that because if we judge people harshly in that way, then that will be the way that he judges us. We need to be constantly aware of our failings in order to be gentle and gracious when we seek to help other people. Question What might be the log in your own eye? Prayer Lord God our Father I confess that I have sinned against you. Forgive me for those times when I have been so quick to see the failings of others, and been totally unaware of my own shortcomings. Amen

Matthew 6:26–27 “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?” The most useless thing that you can say to a person who is worrying is: “Don’t worry.” No doubt it is meant kindly, but you are actually increasing the person’s problems, because you have done nothing to stop their worrying and now added a layer of guilt on top! I love Jesus’ approach. He tells his followers that they have no need to worry because God will provide for them. If he is able to look after the birds and the flowers, he can certainly cope with their problems. Trusting God is the answer. Worrying has never, and can never, build anything. I do realise that those wise words don’t in themselves solve the problem. Worries will still come knocking at the door wanting to claim our attention. So what shall we do when the next worry turns up? The best thing that we can do is to bring that worry to God in prayer. Perhaps it’s a worry about your health. Give thanks to God for the gift of your life and remind yourself that every single day is a gift from his hand. You have never deserved to be alive, and your body is a gift from him. Give thanks to God that he is at work in your life right now and that you will continue to be his child for all eternity. Having prayed those prayers your concerns for your health won’t suddenly evaporate, but it is possible to keep the worries at bay. They don’t need to dominate your life. Perhaps your worries are for other people. You are powerless to change their situation but as you pray for them you start looking at their lives within a bigger perspective. You can leave them in God’s hands knowing his love for them and his desire to bless them. Question What are you going to say instead when you are next tempted to say: “Don’t worry”? Prayer Lord God, thank you that you perfectly provide for my needs and that I have no need to worry. Amen

Matthew 6:20–21 “Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” What matters most to you in your life? It could be any number of things – your family, possessions, relationships, career, hobby, sport, reputation, political convictions or your faith. Jesus was highlighting that whatever matters most to you will shape the way in which you live. It is vital that you fix your sights on something that will last. Remember, most things about this life are temporary. Our possessions are a blessing to us because they are part of God’s gift to us, but they have a short shelf life. They are either attacked by moths and rust or could be stolen. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus encouraged his followers to keep their eyes fixed on the kingdom of heaven because that will last for ever. I have always been inspired by the story of Jim Elliot. He was determined to share the good news of Jesus with the Auca Indians in Ecuador. They lived, and continue to live, totally separate from wider society and speak a language that is not related to any other known language. But Jim was not put off by this or by their savage reputation. He and his four missionary colleagues seemed to be establishing an increasingly warm relationship with the tribe but in February 1955 they were all murdered by ten tribesmen. Jim was 29 years old. Some years before that Jim had reflected on the dangers of the ministry in which he was engaged and wrote: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose.” Jim knew where his treasure was. Our lives may look very different from his, but it is still the key question for us. Question What do you treasure most? Prayer Loving Father, help me to seek your kingdom before anything else. Amen

Matthew 6:16–17 “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and dishevelled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.” Fasting formed a significant part of Jewish life. Solemn fasts were held on particular days such as the Day of Atonement, the New Year and the anniversaries of notable calamities in Jewish history. In addition, special fasts were called when there was a particular emergency, such as the autumn rains failing. Stricter Jews would also fast weekly on Mondays and Thursdays. In the early Church many Christians fasted on Wednesdays and Fridays. So fasting was a regular experience for Christians and Jesus did nothing to discourage it. But his concern was the way in which it was done. He taught his disciples to be completely private about it. Because it was to be entirely between them and God, he encouraged them to go out of their way to hide the fact that they were fasting. Fasting continues to be important for many Christians. It isn’t a requirement, but many find it to be a blessing. It’s a time to focus our attention on the Lord and to listen to him. The moment it becomes a public spectacle or is used as a way of showing others how deeply committed your faith is, it loses its blessing. The attention moves from the Lord to yourself. When you fast, you are telling God that he is more important than food, and are freeing up time to nourish your spiritual life. Some people use it as an opportunity to read scripture or a devotional book, or to have unhurried time in prayer. The choice is yours – but the focus is God. Question In what ways is fasting a blessing to you? And if you don’t fast, in what ways do you think you might be blessed by doing it? Prayer Lord God, we thank you for the blessings that you bring to your people when they fast. Amen

Matthew 6:13 “Don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” When we pray for our sins to be forgiven and for us to forgive others we are looking to the past. In this verse, the Lord’s Prayer looks to the future. Once again, the prayer is fiercely realistic. Although we have had the privilege of our sins being forgiven, we haven’t overcome the problem of sin. Every day we will still face temptation to be less than the best. We will be tempted to cut corners, to be selfish and to neglect the needs of others. However, we can look to the future with confidence because God promises to be our rescuer, if only we place our lives in his hands. Temptation is incredibly subtle. The evil one knows our weaknesses and will exploit them in every possible way. As we face up to these temptations, we have the wonderful privilege of knowing that Jesus understands exactly what we are going through. In the letter to the Hebrews the writer says that Jesus: “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We are not dealing with a God who gazes at life from a huge distance but one who has actually shared our humanity with us. What an encouragement it is to know that Jesus understands fully the temptations that we live with. In fact, he knew even more about the temptations than we do. The reason for this is that all too often we give in to temptations and so don’t experience their full force. Jesus, however, never succumbed to temptations and so he experienced their full power. We don’t need to be fearful that one day we will be overcome by evil. As we look to Jesus we can be confident that, however great the challenge, he will deliver us from the evil one. Question What is the greatest temptation that you face, and how are you confronting it? Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you that you understand the challenges of life. Help me to stand strongly for you, however great the temptations. Amen

Matthew 6:12 “Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.” The Lord’s Prayer talks about our everyday life and here it faces up to the horrible but undeniable fact that sin forms a big part of our lives. But here’s the good news: through our faith in Jesus, sin is no longer an overwhelming problem. Before we met Jesus, sin defeated us but now, through his death on the cross, we can claim God’s forgiveness. We no longer need to trudge through life with the burden of our sins and failures. If we own up to our sins, God is willing to set us free from their consequences, so that we can be fully alive. God’s forgiveness is a wonderful gift but, if we are willing to receive it, it places a huge responsibility on us. We have to share it. Day by day we need to be ready to pass it on when people offend us or deliberately trip us up. This is the tough bit. When we are deliberately wronged, everything in us cries out for justice if not retribution. We want the perpetrator to be punished. But the Lord’s Prayer reminds us that just as we received forgiveness as a free and totally undeserved gift, we now need to pass it on to others. In Mere Christianity (Collins), CS Lewis wisely commented: “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive.” Forgiving others rarely involves words. Forgiveness is something that happens in our hearts and expresses itself in our attitudes and actions. When someone has wronged us, our forgiveness will be shown in the kind and thoughtful way that we respond to them when we next meet. Our loving words will show that we have truly forgiven them and moved on. There’s nothing easy about forgiveness. It wasn’t easy for Jesus and it won’t be for us, but it’s the way of liberation. It’s the way to find life in all its fulness. Question What has been your own experience of forgiving others? Prayer Lord God, give me strength to pass on your gift of forgiveness to others. Amen

Matthew 6:11 “Give us today the food we need.” Have you ever wondered why we ask God for food on a daily basis? Why not ask him to supply us for a week or even a month? God wants us to live in continual partnership with him. Every day we need to turn to him to obtain the nourishment that we need. This applies in both a physical and a spiritual sense. Just as we need to eat each day so too we need to ensure that we are receiving spiritual nourishment. However excellent last Sunday’s church service was, or however blessed we were by yesterday’s time of prayer, we need to open ourselves to the breath of God’s Spirit today. We need him to strengthen us to live for him in the particular challenges and opportunities of this unique day. I am struck by the fact that everything in this prayer is plural. The prayer begins with the words “Our Father in heaven” and here we pray for the food that we need. The moment we start praying we identify the fact that we are part of a family and when we think about getting fed it isn’t just about my empty stomach or my spiritual needs but about what we all need. Physical food is available in abundance in this world but people have very unequal access to it. In some countries even today there is starvation, and in others, including our own, there are immoral levels of food waste. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are taking our share of the responsibility for ensuring that food is made generally available to everyone throughout the world. When we pray that God will feed us spiritually we are expressing a longing that he will nourish everyone else as well. If you are feeling thoroughly well fed in body, mind and spirit that’s excellent, but it isn’t enough. Pray that that same blessing will extend to men and women everywhere. What we are learning is that the Lord’s Prayer is incredibly radical. Through it, we are praying that God will fundamentally change our world. Question In what way do you need to be fed today? And how can you be praying for others today? Prayer Lord God thank you that your understanding of me is so complete that you know exactly how I need to be nourished today. Amen

Matthew 6:10 “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” The Lord’s Prayer, in common with the whole of Jesus’ ministry, is focused on the kingdom of heaven. So we need to have a very clear idea what this kingdom is. In essence, the kingdom of God comes wherever God is recognised as king. When his rule is accepted, the results will be immediately recognisable because they will be marked by peace, love, joy, truth and justice. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer we are saying that we have signed up to work for this amazing kingdom and we want to bring it about here and now. We want the kingdom to be established in our family, our community, our workplace and our church. In this life, the kingdom will always be under attack just as it was throughout Jesus’ ministry, but we need to keep our focus on the king as we seek to encourage every evidence of his kingdom. Some years ago, I was sent a wonderful press cutting that gave me an insight into what the kingdom could look like. It was the report of the stone-laying of a church in Plymouth in 1905. It was a wet day but, even so, the event went ahead and the mayor of the city kindly attended. He was clearly a Christian as he declared that, the more widely the good news of Jesus Christ was proclaimed, the less would be the work of the police and the magistrates and the less claim would be made on the poor relief of the town. Speaking generally he said: “the proclamation of the good news made municipal work more easy and the rates more light.” I love that! What he was saying was that the church’s business was to introduce the kingdom of heaven, which would have an impact on the whole community. Too often churches turn in on themselves and forget that God’s desire is that we should work for the coming of his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Question In what way are you working to bring the kingdom of heaven here on earth? Prayer Lord God, thank you that you have invited us to work with you to bring your kingdom to our world today. Amen

Matthew 6:9 “Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.” The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful model prayer and has been central to Christian worship from the earliest days. In the previous verse Jesus told his disciples that they didn’t need to inform God of anything in their prayers, because he already knows everything. Here he spells out what they should pray about. In the first century there was a guide for Christian living called the Didache, which recommended that the prayer should be said three times a day. Christians will vary in their use of the prayer but, whenever we use it, it is exciting to reflect that it takes us back to the words of Jesus himself and to the heart of the kingdom. It is often helpful to pray the prayer very slowly and to use each sentence to trigger our own personal prayers. The Lord’s Prayer is all about relationship. It begins by looking to God because everything in this prayer flows out of our intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. As an Aramaic speaker the word that would have been in Jesus’ mind was Abba, which literally means daddy. It is a warm and intimate word; Jesus wanted his followers to enjoy that kind of closeness to God. As we pray to our heavenly daddy we are fully aware that he has a unique status. He is holy, and set apart from anything that is imperfect. So, we begin the prayer by affirming that he is to be totally respected, or ‘hallowed’ to use the language that many of us were brought up with. This isn’t merely a recognition of the importance of respecting God’s name but also of honouring him for all that he is and all that he has done. As we pray “our Father” we are also affirming that we are part of a community of people who want to live for God. The Lord’s Prayer is for those who are fully committed to putting their heavenly Father first in their lives. Question How would you describe your personal relationship with God? Prayer Loving heavenly Father, we thank you have invited us, through you Son Jesus, into an intimate relationship with you and one another. Amen

Matthew 6:7–8 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” Prayer is often described as being like talking to a friend. There is much that is right about that description, apart from the fact that God is totally unlike any friend that you or I have ever had. For a start, he knows everything. One of the key features of a conversation with our friends is that, wonderful as they might be, they don’t know everything. In a conversation we spend plenty of time sharing information with them. So the big question is this: if God knows everything, what is the point of praying? The answer is that prayer is all about relationship. As we pray, we affirm the fact that we are his children and that we are totally dependent on him. That’s why it is so important to spend time alone with God. It gives us the opportunity to be completely honest with him and also to listen to him. The joy of our relationship with God is that we can be completely sure that he knows our situation more intimately than we know it ourselves. So we don’t need to ‘babble on’ for ages! The background to this verse is that some religions taught that the worshipper needed to address the right god by the right name so, in order to ensure that no one was missed out, all the gods and their titles needed to be recited. It was a long and exhausting business, so we can be relieved that we don’t need to do this! The moment we come into God’s presence we can be sure that we are enveloped by his love and totally understood. Isn’t that wonderful? Question In what ways are your quiet times with God important to you? Prayer Lord God, thank you that you know everything about me and yet still love me and want to fill me with your life. Amen

Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” Jesus was reacting against the people who made a great show of their praying. They prayed in the synagogues and at street corners because they were looking for an audience. Jesus obviously wasn’t saying that it was wrong to pray in synagogues and at street corners but that it was wrong to turn prayer into a religious act totally focused on people, and not on God. Jesus drew attention to the importance of private prayer because this reveals where the heart is. Without that personal relationship with God, prayer has no meaning. It’s just an act. Jesus’ continual concern was with what we would call religion. He could see that many of the most religious people in his society lived their lives furthest away from God. The word religion means to ‘bind back’. It ties people down to a particular set of beliefs and practices, but it is easy for religion to become merely a performance. Jesus’ desire was to renew people’s hearts so that, through their relationship with God, they would want to honour and serve him. At the end of the day anyone can pray a long prayer, give money or fast but what matters is where their heart is. In recent years, there have been many Christian leaders who have put on an impressive performance, but who have later been discovered to be abusing people or embezzling funds. We must always be desperately disappointed when these things happen. However, we should never be surprised, because we are all aware of the power and destructiveness of the sin that lurks in all of our lives. Such sad moments should drive us back to Jesus’ teaching here in the Sermon on the Mount, reminding us that we all need to spend time with our heavenly Father in private. Without this we run the risk of going off track. Question Where do you find it best to have quiet time with God? Prayer Lord God, help me to live so close to you that my words and actions flow out of my relationship with you. Amen

Matthew 6:3–4 “When you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.” Is there anything worse than hypocrisy? Jesus certainly hated it and had the harshest things to say about the hypocrites of his day. He wanted everyone to have the joy of a real relationship with their heavenly Father, and he knew that putting on an act to impress other people totally missed the point. In this part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus contrasted the hypocrite’s play acting with true devotion to God (v2). The giving of donations to the poor and needy is a responsibility that everyone has, but the way in which it is done is what matters most. Jesus pointed to the hypocrites who announced their giving with trumpets. This may simply have been dramatic language to describe the sheer vanity of some people’s giving, but we do know that trumpets were sometimes used in connection with giving in the temple. Either way the point is clear. When you give, you shouldn’t make a show of it, because the audience that really matters is God alone. It clearly wouldn’t be possible for our left hand to keep secrets from our right hand. The brain doesn’t work like that! But it’s not difficult to understand what Jesus meant. He was saying that all of our giving should be done in the most secret way that we can achieve. Anything short of that will miss out on the blessing that God longs to give to us as we make our gifts. That then begs the question, what should we give? The New Testament doesn’t lay down rules for Christian giving. Paul encouraged his readers in Corinth to give cheerfully and generously (2 Corinthians 9:6–11) and to make sure that their giving was regular and in proportion to their income (1 Corinthians 16:2). The actual amount of your giving is between you and God. What matters above anything else is that when we make our gifts it is an expression of our personal love for God, and just between him and us. Question What have you learned about your giving from this passage? Prayer Loving God, thank you for your amazing generosity to me. Help me always to be generous in my giving. Amen

Matthew 5:14–16 “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.” On the face of it, it seems really surprising that Jesus should be describing his followers as the light of the world. Surely that was his role (John 8:12). But Jesus was recognising that the only way in which people would see his light would be if his followers reflected his light into their communities. It is, therefore, our responsibility to find the most prominent place to put our light so that as many people as possible can see Jesus. It is good that Christians spend time together. We need the strength and encouragement of worshipping and sharing fellowship. But, at the same time, it is vital for us to be part of our communities in order to have opportunities to share the light of Christ. When our diaries are so full of church meetings that we have no time for anything or anyone else, something has gone desperately wrong. How then will people see this light shining from our lives? Jesus indicated that it happens as people see our good deeds. We should never be looking for people’s praise and recognition for our actions but, as we simply get on with being Christians in our daily lives, the light should shine. I have seen this happening time and again through Christians getting stuck into the work of food banks, street pastoring, homeless projects and befriending schemes - or simply being a good neighbour to those who live around them. It is important that our actions are complemented by talking about Jesus, but it is so often the actions that show that our message has credibility. We all have very different opportunities to shine the light of Christ. Your unique network of relationships will enable you to bring the light to places that may not be reached by anyone else. So, however minor and insignificant your good deeds might seem to be, keep them up and thank God that his light will shine through you. Question How has God enabled you to help others? Prayer Dear Lord, help me to live in such a way that others will see your light. Amen

Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.” I have often heard people say that they are happy for individuals to have a Christian faith so long as it’s kept as a private matter. Jesus’ words here prove that there is no way in which a Christian can keep their faith private. Those who live close to God will be shaped by their faith from the moment they wake up in the morning. Everything about their life will flow out of their Christian commitment. Like salt, their influence will have an inevitable impact on all those who come into contact with them. One of the distinguishing features of salt is that it is very different from the foods that it accompanies. It is useful and tasty precisely because it is different. So, too, as Christians we are encouraged to be different from the society in which we live. Our morality and standards are not shaped by our society but by God and so it should never be a surprise when we stand out from the people around us. The apostle Paul was very clear about the need for this when he addressed the small group of Christians in Rome. The pressures upon them must have been immense but he urged them not to “copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think” (Romans 12:2). One of the key characteristics of salt is that it is a preservative. With refrigeration we are hardly aware of this function of salt, but until recent history it was of crucial importance for preserving food. Jesus calls on his followers to get deeply involved in the life of society in order to uphold high standards. The worst of all worlds is when salt becomes contaminated and loses its distinctive taste. Churches, similarly, need to beware of fitting in with society so closely that they have nothing distinctive and godly to share. It is high praise when someone is described as “the salt of the earth” and we should all long to live so close to God that we are able to share his distinctive flavour with the people around us. Question In what way are you able to be salt in your community? Prayer Lord God, help me to live so close to you that your loving, gracious influence touches those around me. Amen

Matthew 5:10 “God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” The life to which Jesus calls us is one of blessing. This is life at its very best. But Jesus never tried to disguise the fact that his followers would face rejection and persecution just as he did. Jesus assures his followers in every age that it is inevitable that, if they stand up for the truth, there will be many people who have a vested interest in bringing them down. Persecution is normally subtle. For the majority of Christians in Eastern Europe during the communist era the challenge was not the likelihood of imprisonment or martyrdom. That happened from time to time for a few, but the ever-present challenge was in education and employment. I recall talking this through at the time with parents in Romania who wanted to know how to help their children at school when they had to sit through atheism classes. Christian children would find it very hard to enter university and because they were not card-carrying communists they would find it very difficult to get a good job. If they did find a job then, almost always, it would be completely unrelated to their abilities and opportunities for promotion were almost unthinkable. To work hard in an ill-fitting job would need exceptional grace and that was the daily experience of most Christians. In our society the challenges are very different, but still inevitable. In a society that has long since rejected Christianity, it can be exceptionally hard to speak about personal faith. We will often be accused and even mocked for being out of touch with the way things are these days. To live with a continual barrage of sarcasm is the experience of many Christians and it can be very hard to bear. And if you find yourself in a position where you believe your organisation is acting unethically, it can be incredibly tough to stand up for truth and justice. Jesus does not encourage us to go looking for persecution and suffering, but rather to be totally unsurprised when it happens. Question In what ways have you faced resistance because of your Christian faith? Prayer Loving God, give me your strength day by day so that I will be able to stand strongly for you, whatever the challenges. Amen

Matthew 5:9 “God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.” In this beatitude Jesus isn’t talking about being peace-lovers but peace-makers, which is very different. A peace-lover will often do anything to avoid conflict, and will even allow bad behaviour to continue because of the desire to ‘keep the peace’. Sadly, that kind of attitude does nothing to bring healing and can easily lead to a situation becoming far worse. Peace-making is the tough task of not turning away from conflict but, in the name of Christ, deliberately facing it and seeking to bring God’s miraculous gift of peace. Robert V Taylor, the President of the Desmond Tutu Foundation, wrote: “If you want peace, don’t talk to your friends, talk to your enemies.” I suspect we all dislike conflict. We hate it when voices are raised, people storm out of meetings or there are broken relationships. It’s exhausting, discouraging and sad. But it’s also very common, and always has been. That’s precisely why Jesus recruited followers 2,000 years ago and still does. He needs you and me to get to know him well enough to have the courage to walk towards conflicts and not away from them. If we always run away from places of anger and brokenness we will never be able to make Jesus’ offer of peace and will deny ourselves the joy of seeing people find unity and a new future. Northern Ireland has seen decades of sectarian violence. The relative peace that is being enjoyed these days didn’t just happen, but was the result of godly peace-makers getting to work and committing themselves to prayer. It was tough, protracted and exhausting work but we rightly honour those who had the guts to walk towards the conflict to bring peace. In 1995 John Hume, founder and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), said: “As everybody knows, the patience, skill and determination shown by clergy has been nothing less than indispensable in bringing about the peace we now enjoy. I can say that without them, the present hopeful situation would not and could not have come about.” The situations of conflict that we face may seem very minor by comparison, but they equally call us to take the tough path of peace-making for Christ’s sake. Question Where is God calling you to be a peace-maker at the moment? Prayer Loving God, thank you for your gift of peace. Give me renewed determination to bring your peace wherever I go. Amen

Matthew 5:8 “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.” If you have any gold or silver you will know that it is vital that it is as pure as possible. Any impurity will hugely diminish its value. Jesus was saying that the same rule applies to our spiritual lives. We need to be single-minded, keeping our eyes fixed on his kingdom and not allowing ourselves to be distracted by any lesser objective. This reminds me of Psalm 24, where we learn that the people who were welcomed to worship God in the temple were “those whose hands and hearts are pure” (v4). This makes uncomfortable reading. We can easily understand the desirability of having pure hearts, but we know that our lives are a long way away from that. Even our best efforts can very easily be spoilt by unhelpful motives. When we give generously to help others, we will often feel personal pleasure and pride at what we have given. In fulfilling our roles in our churches, it is easy to focus far too much attention on the love and gratitude that we gain from our service. Even in preaching the word of God there is always the danger of self-satisfaction at having preached a wonderful sermon. One day after John Bunyan had just finished preaching a sermon someone came up and told him that he had preached well. He apparently replied: “The devil already told me that as I was coming down the pulpit steps.” Honesty compels us all to admit that we are a long way from living lives of complete purity. Much as we might long to live a life of single-minded commitment to God we know that we are easily distracted. However, I don’t believe that Jesus’ words should dishearten us. As we read the Beatitudes we are being shown the beauty and desirability of living a life in complete conformity to God’s will. Inspired by this ‘gold standard’ he then urges us to walk in his footsteps, relying completely on his forgiveness and the power of his Spirit. Question What would help you to live more single-mindedly for God? Prayer Lord God, I confess that I get distracted easily from following your will. I praise you for your forgiveness and for the renewing power of your Spirit. Amen

Matthew 5:7 “God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Jesus told many stories that make us sit up. One of the most powerful was the story of the king who was owed an enormous amount of money by one of his servants (Matthew 18:21–35). The man couldn’t possibly pay his debt. The servant fell on his knees and begged the king to be patient. The king took pity on him and cancelled the debt. The relief must have been incredible. The servant then went out and met a friend who owed him a trivial amount - but the servant demanded that he be paid back in full and threw the friend into prison until he recovered all his money. When the king heard this, he was incensed and ordered that the servant who had been let off the most enormous debt be thrown into prison and tortured until he paid back every last penny. Ouch. Jesus concluded by saying that that was exactly how his heavenly Father would treat anyone who failed to show forgiveness to others. God wants to show us his mercy and forgiveness, but we are then under an obligation to pass it on. It isn’t a choice, and it isn’t easy. Forgiveness is a gift and there is no way in which we could ever deserve to be forgiven by God. Justice would demand that our sins are judged severely. The debt is well beyond anything we could ever repay. But God in his mercy and love has chosen to let us go free, and to give us complete forgiveness. We need to remind ourselves constantly of how incredible it is that God should ever have forgiven us. And then we must never forget that we are commissioned to pass on forgiveness to those who deliberately wrong us, to those who are unkind to us and to those who make our lives a misery. They don’t deserve forgiveness any more than we did, but we are charged with passing on the forgiveness that God has generously given to us. Question What have you learned from the times when you have forgiven other people? Prayer Lord God, thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Help me always to be ready to pass on that gift to others. Amen

Matthew 5:6 “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.” I wonder when you last felt painfully hungry or thirsty. I suspect for most of us that, if it has ever happened, it is a distant memory. However, it is likely that Jesus’ hearers would have been very familiar with both. Harvests could be good or bad, and it was impossible to achieve a reliable supply of food. Additionally in a hot country people would often have felt desperately thirsty, and finding a good supply of clean water would never have been easy. Jesus wanted his followers to have the same craving and passion for his kingdom to be established as a hungry and thirsty person has for food and drink. Christianity suffers desperately from those who give it merely polite agreement. They live respectable and kind lives and consider that Christian faith is generally a very good thing. Jesus is looking for something completely different. He wants our lives to be dominated by the longing to see God’s will done and for society to be ordered in a way that honours him. In our worship he wants us to express our craving for God’s honour, peace and love to be the experience of everyone in the world. And in our service he wants us to strive to bring his justice and compassion to our society. The wonderful promise is that God will answer the prayers of those who have this passionate longing for his kingdom. For as long as we live on this earth we will be battling against the reality of sin and injustice. They are sadly an inevitable part of a fallen world but, amidst it all, God is working with us and hearing our prayers. Our task is to live so close to God that we never lose that passionate desire for his perfect will. Through reading the Bible, our fellowship with other Christians and our worship we keep alive our longing for the perfect, liberating kingdom of God. Question How hungry and thirsty are you for God’s kingdom? Prayer Dear Lord, forgive me for my half-heartedness. Give me a passionate desire to do your will and to see your kingdom come here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen

Matthew 5:5 “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.” Mother Teresa taught the world a great deal about humility. She gave us a wonderful example of what it looks like to be humble through her costly service to the most rejected and unloved members of society. But she also offered us many wise words on the subject. In her famous ‘humility list’ she said: “Learn to be humble by doing all the humble work and doing it for Jesus. You cannot learn humility from books; you learn it by accepting humiliations. Humiliations are not meant to torture us; they are gifts from God. These little humiliations—if we accept them with joy—will help us to be holy, to have a meek and humble heart like Jesus.” Humility lies at the heart of the kingdom of God. Jesus once told his disciples that the only way to enter the kingdom was to become as humble as a child (Matthew 18:4). They were still looking for power and influence, but Jesus wanted to turn their thinking upside down. We only serve God effectively by giving up all thoughts of our own advancement and seeking to strengthen and bless others. Mother Teresa has left us a really helpful humility list that offers us an excellent way of checking whether we are really growing in humility. Here are five items from her list. 1. Speak as little as possible about yourself. 2. Accept small irritations with good humour. 3. Do not dwell on the faults of others. 4. Accept contempt, being forgotten and disregarded. 5. Do not seek to be admired and loved. I love these simple, practical challenges. They clearly illustrate that humility is the path for those who long to see the kingdom of God become a reality here and now and who are happy to accept a huge challenge. When writing to the Colossian church, the apostle Paul wrote: “Clothe yourselves…in humility” (Colossians 3:12). Living humbly needs to be so natural to us that wherever we go and whatever we do humility is always an integral part of our daily life. Question Which of Mother Teresa’s five challenges do you find most relevant to you? Prayer Lord Jesus thank you for the humility that you showed in your earthly life. Help me day by day to learn more about the joy of living humbly. Amen