DARK DAYS ARE FOR HIS GLORY!
(by E. H. Maze)
Chapter 5
The Beautitudes
- Just Add You!
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and
when he sat down his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and
taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be
comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be satisfied. 7 "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. 8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 "Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 "Blessed are
those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. 11 "Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and
utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be
glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets
who were before you.
Whatever is in your heart is
what you will produce (see Jesus' parable of the fruit tree). A good
tree will bear good fruit and a bad tree will bear bad fruit. But, who has planted the seed? Not you.
You are not self-created. Johnny
Appleseed didn’t make trees – He planted seeds.
The seeds were already produced.
In this case (in your case), God has planted His seed in your good soil
(heart). Don’t let it go bad. No matter what your past has been like, the
Lord has made you good soil. The Devil
(or those who act on the Devil's behalf) would have you to believe that he has made you what you are today. That is not true! You are life to everyone around you – if you
choose to be. You can, also, be death to
everyone around you. What’s your
choice? Stubborn trees, we are!
When Jesus came, it was a
beautiful plan. The Father didn’t send
His Son to earth as a maggot! Not matter
how you might see yourself (it’s your sinful nature that sees you that way),
God sees you with the eyes of His grace.
He sent His Son to His most cherished creation to bring them back to
Him. He wasn’t redeeming maggots! He was redeeming Kings and
CHRIST IN YOU
“A man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief.”
The history of Jesus should be lived out in our lives everyday. I don’t practice finding ways to suffer, but I don’t think everyday should be peachy, either. If the life of Jesus is being lived out in me then I should suspect that sorrows and grief will come uninvited and unwelcomed.
These uninvited guests will try us. Should I go ahead and allow the suffering to envelop me; to beat me; to, eventually, rule me? If sin is allowed to rule then, yes, I must then make a comfortable place for sin to dwell. It is already abiding so I might as well make it comfortable. But, of course, sin’s comfort will eventually become my discomfort (and my undoing) because sin that is allowed to continue will bring the death of everything (anything) good that attempts to dwell in my heart. The inverse is true, as well: The goodness that is allowed to continue will bring the death of everything (anything) evil that attempts to dwell in my heart.
If sin is not allowed to rule
(that is, if the life of Jesus is given its proper place) then the place of
honor will be given to the rightful owner – the Spirit of God. And, what was true of Jesus when He walked
the earth can be true of your life today.
Two things were true of Jesus:
1) Sorrows. Sorrows and grief will make themselves
known. Jesus was strong enough to do
battle in the spirit to defeat sorrow and grief, rather than to walk in denial
like some unfeeling saints who pretend that nothing bad can touch them (harm
them). As Oswald Chambers said in his
journal My Utmost for His Highest, “You always know the man who has been through
the fires of sorrow and received himself; you are certain you can go to him in
trouble and find that he has ample leisure for you. If a man has not been through the fires of
sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous; he has no time for you. If you receive yourself in the fires of
sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.”
2) The other truth about Jesus
was His firm belief in God’s “system” of relationship. The system is called the Beatitudes. I call them the beautitudes (misspelled
intentionally, you’ll get the point in a minute).
The Beatitudes, which Jesus
taught, were a designation of the character and lifestyle of those who relate
to the character of God. Of course, none
of those characteristics mean anything unless someone has experienced them
either by personal experience or by being mentored by someone who has
experienced that character firsthand.
Someone has to teach us how to live when trials come. For example, we need to know how to handle
being poor (in spirit); how to walk meekly; and, how to rejoice (yes, I think
that we could all better learn how to be joyful).
Here is your next miracle (have you lost count, yet?): God's Blessings Depends Upon Your Attitude & Your Actions
I am sure that you noticed the
way I spelled beautitudes. I
intentionally misspelled the word for a reason.
The secret to the beatitudes is “you.”
That is why I add the “u” to the spelling. Just add “u” (you) and the word changes from
beatitudes to beautitudes. Do you see
the word “beauty” there? It’s a
beautiful thing, isn’t it? Someone
taught me another way to break down that word.
He called them the “be-at-it-tudes.”
I like that very much – to “be at it.”
This is one of those times when beauty isn’t just skin-deep. This beauty goes all the way to the
heart. Don’t go there yet, but later on
in this book I write about the miracle of beauty in my own life. I finally found, after years of what my wife
calls “mad face
disease,” the beautiful nature of God within me.
Not everything God wants to do
in us needs a “process” but a lot of it does.
Let me help you get a foothold before we take the next giant leap.
I had busied myself with trying to be beautiful. It didn’t work most of the time. But, that was my fault. My heart could turn from be “dark and fearful” to “light and lively” in the twinkling of an eye. I think psychologists (and some of my friends) call it bi-polar. Whatever!
And, my heart could be turned by the mere
winking of an eye.
Even today, working on this “beauty” issue is tough for me – especially, since I am a guy, and guys don’t do that “beauty” thing very well.
Nevertheless, the truth remains: I am blessed when I am filled with the beauty
of the beatitudes.
The beatitudes from
Isn’t it interesting to know that when you
realize that you have been blessed, you can be sure that God is smiling down
upon you? So, shouldn’t we be busy
having these “attitudes” rule in our lives?
end of chapter
Please take the time to read each chapter prayerfully -even if, especially if, you are going through the darkest days of your life.
Please let me know if you have read (and enjoyed) this chapter by sending me a quick email to: ehylandmaze@aol.com
end of Chapter (click here to go to Chapter 6)- if link is not active, the chapter is not yet ready. Check back later, please.
bless you.....................................Eugene H. Maze
This chapter and all chapters related to this website book entitled "Dark Days" (copyright 2004) was written and published by Eugene H. Maze. No portion of this book may be copied, sold or distributed either by electronic or other means in any fashion whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author. Permission for distribution may be obtained by contacting the author at ehylandmaze@aol.com. Links to this and all previous and subsequent pages of this book entitled "Dark Days" may be distributed freely without permission.