Good morning. Blessed are
the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. I'm sure you have experienced
people who are not merciful to others – they don't cut them any slack. I see it
with professors concerning their students. They of course give perfect
assignments and grade them perfectly; so 69.9999999 is a D. I sometimes wonder
how they feel when some entity judges them that way. Do they accept that
without complaint, or do they beg for mercy? Of course this is talking about
much more serious things. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. In John it says that no man has seen God. The only begotten God has
explained Him. There are two main words in Greek that mean clean/pure. This is
the stronger of the two. In the other you could have two pure things mixed
together, and it would still be considered pure. Sometimes it is translated
holy. In this one you can have only one pure item. You have heard of being
single minded; this would mean being single “hearted”. Blessed are the
peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Of course we're not talking
about packing a Colt 45 Peacemaker. Now making peace among men is important; but
making people have peace with the God of the universe is much more important.
Father thank You that the reader is pure in heart. He/she is a peacemaker –
helping people to have peace with God.
Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me
Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
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