Beatitudes

October 2, 2024 / Filed Under: Devotions, Exegesis

We All Need Mercy

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Implicit in Jesus’ promise is this reality: the merciful recognize their own need for mercy. Otherwise, how could Jesus’ promise hold any weight? If I don’t need mercy, then what good is there in promising me mercy? But if I see my own need of mercy, then I will want to emulate any description of those who obtain mercy. The merciful recognize their own need for mercy.

March 17, 2024 / Filed Under: Devotions

What Does It Mean to Be “Poor In Spirit”?

Jesus paradoxically describes those as happy who are poverty-stricken in their souls. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). As upside-down and inside-out as this may sound, if we believe Jesus then we certainly want to know what he is talking about. What does it mean to be “poor in spirit”?

God tells us, over and over again, to focus our starving souls on the superb reality of who He is, what He is doing, and what He promises to do for all who trust in Him.

And God’s invitation to glory in Him is nowhere more explicit than in the repeated command to ‘Behold.’

Justin O. Huffman invites us to meditate on ten of the occasions the command ‘Behold’ is used in the New Testament, and to feast on the wonderful truth we find there.

“Justin Huffman takes the familiar truths of Christ’s gospel and helps us to view them again with wonder—a sense of glory that both fascinates us and fills us with awe. Here is a book that focuses attention on Jesus and says, ‘Behold your God!’.”
—Joel Beeke

“Behold provides a corrective lens for us to see that there is more to life and invites us to satisfy our deep soul–hunger by feasting on Jesus, the Son of God.”
—Joel Morris