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Principles That Underlie The Law Of God, February 16
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3
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In Christ’s sermon on the mount, light and truth are given, and principles laid
down which apply to every condition of life, and to every duty that God requires
at our hands. Christ had come to magnify and make honorable the law that He
Himself had proclaimed from Mount Sinai to His chosen people during their
wilderness wandering....
In all His lessons, Christ sought to impress upon the minds and hearts of His
hearers the principles which underlie His great standard of righteousness. He
taught them that if they would keep God’s commandments, love for God and for
their fellow men must be manifested in their daily life. He sought to instill into
their hearts the love He felt for humanity. Thus He sowed the seeds of truth, the
fruits of which will produce a rich harvest of holiness and beauty of character. The
holy influence will not only be far-reaching while time shall last, but its results
will be felt throughout eternity. It will sanctify the actions, and have a purifying
influence wherever it exists.
Seated upon the mount, surrounded by His disciples and a large ... gathering,
Jesus “opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” These are not murmurers and complainers,
but those who are content with their condition and surroundings in life. They
do not cherish the feeling that they deserve a better position than that which
Providence has assigned them, but manifest a spirit of gratitude for every favor
bestowed upon them. Every proud thought and exalted feeling is banished....
Those who are truly sanctified have a sense of their own weakness. Feeling
their need, they will go for light and grace and strength to Jesus, in whom all
fullness dwells, and who alone can supply their wants. Conscious of their own
imperfections, they seek to become more like Christ, and to live in accordance
with the principles of His holy law. This continual sense of inefficiency will lead
to such entire dependence upon God, that His Spirit will be exemplified in them.
The treasures of heaven will be opened to supply the wants of every hungering,
thirsting soul. All of this character have the assurance of one day beholding the
glory of that kingdom which as yet the imagination can only faintly grasp....
The standard the Christian is to keep before him is the purity and loveliness of
Christ’s character. Day by day he may be putting on new beauties, and reflecting
to the world more and still more of the divine image.—
The Bible Echo, February
21, 1898
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