Another Look At The Beatitudes, part 3

Matthew 5:6-7

6. Since we have the gentle character we want more. No one character of Jesus of God sums it all up.

This needs to become like a physical appetite. We realize that we are devoid of righteousness and can only get it if we get it from God.

Justification allows us to:
Enter heaven in the end
Pray now
Be done with guilt
To be able to really “play” the piece of the Christian life (to use a musical metaphor) as it should be

In all this satisfaction is guaranteed. We won’t be looking for other spiritual resources, either in ourselves or in other religions.

7. Merciful is something else. We might expect that the righteous would make everyone toe the line as they only think they have done. That is not the character of the Father, and it is the very character we acquire here. Mercy doesn’t require others to “get it right” before it is dispensed. It is given precisely because they don’t have it right, and never will apart from the extension of mercy.

As with God, absolute righteousness in us disposes us to mercy. This should govern our every interpersonal interchange. This, like forgiveness is a gift you get when you give it. We originally get it from God when we are saved, but we operate in it as a total way of life now.