Sept 25

Matthew 5:1-10

1 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him,
2 and he began to teach them.
3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

The people of ancient Rome told the story of Androcles, a slave whose master was cruel. Androcles ran away and hid in the woods for a long time. He was happy to be free but had a hard time finding food, so he began to get hungry and weak. Finally, convinced that he was dying, Androcles crawled into a dark cave and lay down to sleep. He was awakened by the loud roar of a lion that had entered the cave. Androcles thought the lion was going to eat him, but he watched in fascination as the lion limped in circles around the cave, constantly whimpering and occasionally roaring in pain. When the great creature finally lay down, Androcles approached the lion care-fully. To his surprise, the lion allowed him to gingerly lift the injured paw. Androcles discovered that a long, sharp thorn had lodged itself in the lion's paw. With one quick motion, he pulled the thorn out. The lion licked the tender paw while Androcles still held it in his hand, and soon both man and animal fell asleep. The next morning the lion brought food to Androcles, and it continued to do so every day until a band of soldiers came into the cave and recognized Androcles as an escaped slave. The soldiers arrested him and took him to Rome. In those days runaway slaves were forced to fight wild animals in the Colosseum for the entertainment of the people. After a few days in prison, Androcles was taken to the Colosseum. His guards dragged him out into a dirt arena and left him alone. He trembled as he heard the roars of a hungry beast. Finally, a gate was opened at the other end of the arena, and a mighty lion raced in, roaring and baring his teeth. The creature leaped upon Androcles in a single bound as the crowd watched in astonishment to see Androcles and the lion he had befriended roll over and over in the dirt in a happy reunion. When the crowd heard the slave's story, they cried out for Androcles and the lion to be set free, and they were. This fable illustrates an important truth. Jesus put it this way: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy" (Matthew 5:7, NIV). The person who shows mercy to others often receives mercy back, while the person who refuses mercy to others is cheated out of many good things. It's just another way that obeying God's commands protects us and provides for us.

REFLECT: Have you ever been blessed by someone who has shown you mercy? Have you returned that blessing? Have you ever been blessed by being merciful to someone else?

PRAY: "Thank you, God, for the mercy you have shown to me. This week, help me think of a way to show mercy to one of your creatures."

Something I think we really need to learn to do, is to keep in mind our debts. We always think about how if we do something for God, God will do more than he's already doing. The passage says to "give, so that you would get in return, and share feelings." But we always have a habit of protagonizing ourselves to see ourselves as the one who's always giving. From the get go, we'll have a tendency to meet a new person, and not do anything to contribute in building a new companionship until the other person does so first.

If we all did that, none of us would be socializing. At all. Pretty dull. Yeah.
So. We gotta take initiative, and not "wait for the other person to do it first."

If both our mothers and fathers were to keep the attitude on letting the opposite partner initiate, we probably wouldn't even been born.
So yeah.
Be outgoing.
In making friends, and giving gifts.

For a long period of time, I figured God paid special attention to the ones who were desperately in need of him, because they were thought of as less in society.
But really, I think it's more that he wants to put everyone at the same level.
Life is fair because everyone is going through hard times. Not just one or two people.
I think we all have problems and things, but in different ways, but it affects us all the same.

EGAD. I MUST PERSEVERE THROUGH THIS WRETCHED COLD.
I MUST.

I'm so tired...so much homework and assignments due...
God like what Esther said pays attention to those that are considered lower in our society to balance out our lives. God has commanded us to help people in need because what we give, we will get in return. The thing we will get in return from God will be greater than anything else you have been given. It might not be given from our doings then we magically get respected...no it's probably going to be through the person we have helped and it will feel better. It sort of reminded me of the stories Suji and Joshua shared with us during their inner city missions, reaching out for others truly change your mind about God and you become thankful for it.

I understood today's but I just can't put it into word right now.....I shall try
God sees every moment we go through. He celebrates our accomplishments and is with us during our rough times. Complaining to him doesn't change anything. He has already prepared something for us and you cannot change his mind. There's a time and place for everything. And that's why I liked today's story, it didn't say anything about him complainig, but he was shaking of fear but that's alright everyone does that. Gos had everything planned out perfectly and had a lion become friends with a man. That's cool...

I gotta get some sleep these days.....
~Audrey~

what i got from this verse and short story was that whatever we do such as in our actions and stuf, we will recieve it back. Whatever we do such as show mercy to others or help them out and etc... we will eventually be repaid back in some sort of way but it may not be directly. God blesses all of us and we should be greatful for that. therefore we should also be merciful to others and just do good for God and do as he wishes. God is always watching over us and protecting us so we shouldnt be afriad.

i found the short story really touching because what are the chances of the same lion fighting the slave. there were many others lions but that specific lion was chosen to fight the slave. this is obviously a blessing from God because the slave had helped the lion before so the lion was repaying him because of the man did. The man could of just walked away and lived on with his life, but because he helped the lion his lfie was changed dramatically.

gnite so much work soo tired -_-

I'll be posting this Devotion tomorrow! So much to do, so little time

wut. I posted last night.. didn't go through.

God uses people to show his mercy and His glory.
Whenever I'm blessed by God's grace, I don't just thank God, but I TRY to pay it forward.
No greater way to thank God than reflecting His actions.
I've been blessed, and when I do feel blessed, I feel as if I see the world in God's hands.
How happy it makes him when I'm merciful to others, it just puts a fat smile on his face.
Blessed are the merciful, and how merciful are the blessed

Here it is!
So I got that God is putting bad situations in our lives to test us! He wants to see if we are able to stay positive, brave and faithful even when we are in a horrible condition. God will always be with us, and make sure everything turns out okay, just like Androcles in the end of the story!

this reminded me of the favor system i like to go by, and it is that there is no score to keep. Within my group of 4 or 5 friends or so, we always spot each other and give bus tickets and whatnot because we all know that we'll get it back someway or another.
Similarly, I think that God is asking us to be merciful and help each other out, not so that we get paid back, but just because. And then that's when we get mercy returned. As an extension of the golden rule, when we treat others well, we also get treated well. We don't do good unto others to receive it back, but its a cause and effect thing. We usually end up getting back what we give, whether its good or bad. So do good!

6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

We ALWAYS have room for imrpovement, for growth, for wisdom.
Only when we desire these things, will we be satisfied!
If someone for instance, didn't search for wisdom, didn't want to grow. You would think that the person is completely satisfied with him/herself. That's only what we would perceive but deep down, I'm sure that the person is not satisfied at all. He/she is not satisfied simply because he finds other things to fill in voids that he hasn't let God fill. We're satisfied when we're hungry, and God provides for us.

Not sure of any situations where ive been blessed by mercy given to me but the message that this devtion was trying to give us is to be humble.
If there are people we are sick of, show mercy, for God shows mercy upon us all the time.
Everytime we sin, He shows mercy toward us. The least we could do is work as a imitator of God.
Im sure if we give mercy to others, mercy will be brough to us even more than it is now.