{"id":9035,"date":"2022-01-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/letting-god-be-god-matthew-51-4\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T16:55:44","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T08:55:44","slug":"letting-god-be-god-matthew-51-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/letting-god-be-god-matthew-51-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Letting God be God (Matthew 5:1-4)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Posted by Lim Siew Lan \u2022 Jan 15, 2022<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

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Our Best Thought is a weekly devotional thoughtfully penned by leaders in DUMC arising from their daily devotions. The devotional’s title, “Our Best Thought” is taken from the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” as a reference to God: “Thou my best thought, by day or by night.” Publishes on Sundays.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Scripture:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the hillside, and sat down. His disciples came to him. He took a deep breath, and began his teaching:<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Blessings on the poor in spirit! The kingdom of heaven is yours.<\/span><\/p>\n

‘Blessings on the mourners! You’re going to be comforted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 5:1-4 (NET)<\/p>\n

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Observation:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Early in Jesus’ ministry, he began to teach about the Kingdom of heaven [Kingdom of God]. This series of teachings by Jesus gives us insight into what the reign of God looks like. And He begins this series with blessings on the poor in spirit.<\/p>\n

To be blessed is more than happiness. It means fundamentally to be approved, to find approval. If this is God’s universe, can there be a higher ‘blessing’ than to be approved by God?<\/p>\n

To be poor in spirit is to personally acknowledge I am spiritually poverty-stricken. It is not that I am insignificant or without personal value—He loves us deeply. To be poor in spirit is to realise that I am sinful, rebellious and not able to fulfill God’s standards by myself.<\/p>\n

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Application:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

We often prefer to hide from this poverty and from the fact that we are truly broken. We are broken physically, intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, communally.<\/p>\n

Today, take time to acknowledge the brokenness in our lives. We can gently lay aside the illusions we have of being whole and without vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

From this place, we express our need for God, our dependence on Him, our impotence without Him. When we live from a poverty of spirit, we become more receptive to God to act as God.  <\/p>\n

Special Reflection<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Are there things in my life that I believe will give me more significance, purpose and meaning than God himself? For example, education, wealth, career, family, piety, or social standing.<\/p>\n

 Are there areas in my life that are powered by self, apart from God? Where are the places that I rely on my experience, training and theology, apart from God?<\/p>\n

Have a conversation with God about the things that have come up in your reflections.<\/p>\n

[This exercise is not about condemnation. It is about knowing what traps us and takes us to away from God, from His unfailing love and light.]<\/p>\n

“Pride based on genuine virtues has the greatest potential for self-deception. “<\/p>\n

D. A. Carson.<\/p>\n

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Response:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Gracious Father,
Teach me what it means to be poor in spirit. Help me see my delusions and bring them to You. I want to learn to cooperate with Your Spirit, who is at work in me, through me. That I may enter into the fullness of Life you promised us. Amen.<\/p>\n

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Lim Siew Lan teaches spiritual formation, facilitates formation groups and spiritual retreats with Equip. She also serves with the Trinity Annual Conference’s Institute for Christian Ministry. <\/p>\n

Our Best Thought is a weekly devotional that follows DUMC’s Bible Reading Plan. Posts on Sundays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To be blessed is more than happiness, it means fundamentally, to be approved, to find approval. If this is God\u2019s universe, can there be a higher \u2018blessing\u2019 than to be approved by God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9035"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9035"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9456,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9035\/revisions\/9456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dumc.my\/tm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}