Good morning ladies,
The word of the day is “periphrasis.” I remember when I first started reading the
Bible. I was very overwhelmed because I
did not understand a lot of what I was reading.
My church group leader and people that helped me through those first
years reminded me that I did not have to understand everything. So, when I asked them about some verses that
I might be able to understand pretty clearly, even not having been a Christian
for a very long time, I was directed to the following passage.
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when
he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and
taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the
earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive
mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you
and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice
and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted
the prophets who were before you.
~Matt 5:1-12
My question is: do you make the Christian life more
complicated than need be? I think
sometimes we get so caught up on trying to understand things and go deeper with
God that we forget that the Christian life is all about simplicity. As we see in today’s passage, Jesus had no
need for periphrasis speech, but instead a simple and succinct set of commands
would suffice then, and end up being some of the most widely read verses in the
Bible even to date. My prayer is that
you keep your relationship with God simple.
Don’t make more of it than necessary.
Allow God to work with you on his time and agenda. That’s how you grow fast as a Christian.
Praying for you,
MO
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