Thoughts from Camp - Day 16 - Beatitudes

"Seek God until He breaks your heart, and then preach from the bottom of your broken heart." This 

is what I often say to those I mentor. So with seven weeks of speaking, writing devotions and heading up ministry at a summer camp, I anticipate being challenged, stretched and broken as the weeks roll on. Each day I will post some lessons to be learned from the devotions and messages we have studied as a camp.

There is no hierarchy in the Christian faith. We often think of pastors and preachers as slightly above us normal folk on the Christian scale, and a man like Spurgeon far above them. There are different roles in the church, and different treasures can be stored up, but as far as being a Christian goes, you either are, or you are not.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives the beatitudes - the characteristics of a Christian. This is what every Christian looks like. These are the things that make us different than everyone else.

Poor in Spirit - That is, that we recognize our own spiritual condition. A poor person goes to a store and can not buy what they want. Why? They do not posess the money they are asked for. What God demands and what we have are not the same thing, and the Christian knows this, and lives with this reality. We are poor in Spirit - Spiritually bankrupt, and coming to God knowing there is nothing in our hands.

Mourning - This is mourning over sin, so if we all stopped reading this at funerals, that'd be great. We not only are aware of our Spiritual condition, but we are broken over it. We are upset over what we are. We feel remorse for our own depravity.

Meek - Again, this our condition, our mindset, towards God. Every Christian is meek. That is, they are humble enough to admit their poverty, and humble enough to mourn. Jesus told us that the healthy do not need doctors, but only the sick. If you believe yourself to be righteous, Jesus can not help you, for He came exclusively for sinners. So by this condition, all Christians are meek, for they have approached Him in much need. If you call yourself a Christian but do not believe in the poorness of your spirit, do not mourn for sin and are not meek, I challenge to see if you could ever have flung yourself upon the mercies of the Savior whose blood was shed for us.

Hungering and Thirsting for Righteousness - Again, this is the mark of every Christian. As sons of Adam we are born spiritually dead - that is, dead in relation to God. We are born with no desire, no hunger, and no true knowledge regarding God. So when Christ makes us alive with Him, our hunger for Him is for the first time ignited. The Christian is alive in relation to God, and desires Him more. I asked a wise mentor once what it meant to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and he told me that it means fighting hard for the time spent doing things that satisfy your soul. That is, being diligent to exchange time spent doing things of temporary value for time spent in prayer and Bible study. Hours a day praying means losing hours a day doing something else.

Merciful - We now switch from conditions of the heart to actions. Christians give to others the mercy they received from god. Why? God has changed our hearts.

Pure in heart - not that the Christian is perfect in purity, but we strive for it. The goal of purity is what unites Christians together in fellowship, and what sets us apart from every other person in the world.

Peacemakers - Peace makers make peace. Its a really simple definition. This is what the Christian is.

Persecuted for righteousness sake - The prophets and apostles were all killed for their faith, and humanity has not become less depraved since then. Depraved men still hate God as they always have. If Jesus preached like most preachers today, they never would have crucified Him. The truth-proclaiming believer will only ever face opposition and disagreement. Such is the lot of the believer.

These are the marks of a Christian. Not a super Christian, just a Christian. This is what every true Believer looks like - these are our characteristics. True belief and desire to follow the Lord will result in life change, and this is what that life change will look like.