one step: Matthew 5.6

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

The first four beatitudes consider the picture of the life of the believer who has received the grace of God. The three following beatitudes discuss what that grace looks like in the life of the believer as they live it out.

If we as believers are rightly planted in God, our life should yield fruit that looks like the King and the Kingdom that we are planted in. It is not outside of the bounds of possibility for unbelievers to show mercy on occasion, but the merciful person to which Jesus refers in this passage has a bent toward showing mercy. This person does not show mercy on occasion, but leans toward mercy in every circumstance.*

The person who occasionally and sparingly sows apple seeds on a field may reap nothing at all as birds and harsh sunlight and merciless winds carry away and destroy those seeds. However, the person who sows generously out of the understanding of who they are as an apple farmer will one day receive a harvest of apples. This picture of the sower of apple seeds is much like the one bent toward mercy.

The one who shows mercy as a bent of who they have been by grace redeemed to be stands to harvest/receive mercy much more often in this world. Assuredly, we can see this truth in the land of the living, but Jesus speaks of the eternal.

Jesus speaks of an eschatological mercy that those who have received grace will receive one day. Meaning, the promise of mercy in the day of judgment that comes at the end of all things awaits those who have allowed the grace of God to change their hearts.

The somber reality of this promise is that we must not fool ourselves into thinking that we have allowed the good work of the Lord to transform our lives by producing the occasional act of mercy from our own strength. We must not fool ourselves into thinking that we have allowed the grace of God to transform us just because we sit in church on occasion, carry seeds in our pocket, or subscribe to the right devotionals or channels. We must pause long enough to allow God to show us our own hearts. We must allow Him to transform us into merciful people that look like Him.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to show mercy. Have you received it? Perhaps God wants you to receive His mercy and grace today to transform your heart. Maybe God wants to show you knew ways and new people to show His mercy to. Maybe God wants to help you to rest in the knowledge that your future is secure in Him.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 100.

one step: Matthew 5.5

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Our souls have a veracious appetite. The appetite of our soul for feeling, pleasure, story, and excitement drives us down a never-ending path of binge watching episode after episode of program after program. In this lust for comfort, pleasure, and escape, our souls tragically remain conspicuously empty.

Jesus promises satisfaction for our souls, but this satisfaction requires something of us in a way that the mechanisms of this world (like binge watching) do not. The satisfaction that our souls long for comes through self-discipline, surrender, and trust.

It first comes through self-discipline as we must command our souls to long for right standing before God. This desire for right standing before God births from a dissatisfaction for the emptiness of this world and a fatigue that comes from the constant eating of empty episodes and the false filling that this world promises.

Second, the satisfaction of our souls comes through surrender. This surrender looks like understanding that we cannot fill ourselves. While we may command our souls to long after righteousness, we cannot achieve this righteousness on our own. We must lay down our belief that the change that we need and the filling that our emptiness demands does not come through human effort. We must lay down our tools to allow Him to do the work in us.

Finally, satisfaction comes only through trust. The desire for right standing before God must come from a belief that what Jesus says is true. Without trust, we will reject the words of Jesus and turn back to the familiar snacks of this world that neither fill nor satisfy. Without trust, we will wait only moments for the Lord to do the work in us that satisfies before picking up our tools of self-manipulation once again. This choice to choose righteousness requires a daily and perhaps hourly decision as the enticement of this world does not cease. The flashy, entertaining, emptiness of this world shouts all the louder the moment we turn away from it.

Righteousness is a gift from God as is the satisfaction that comes from it. Gifts must be received.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to stop striving. Stop attempting to gain satisfaction by human means. Perhaps today God invites you to begin denying your soul of the emptiness of this world. Maybe God is calling you to surrender yet another area of your life. Maybe you have fallen back into an old pattern and need to repent and surrender once more. Perhaps it is time to trust Him more.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 98-100.

one step: Matthew 5.4

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Reportedly, some time in the 1600s a phrase that was later adapted in the 1800s came to popularity. This phrase still impacts our culture today: “where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

This phrase encourages the hearer that if they want something, then they should engage their will to make it happen. This catchy phrase resonates with us as the contrast has proven true in our lives most times: if you do not engage in life, nothing will happen.

There is some truth to this statement, but it also feeds into the humanistic, self-reliant society in which we now find ourselves in. It’s easy to allow self-reliance and dependence upon our own strength to become the default for response in our lives. When a problem or opposition arrives, we dig in our heels and try really hard. After all, “if there’s a will, there’s a way.” This is a promise of 400 years of human experience and legacy.

Beware of catchy phrases. Just because they alliterate, rhyme, or hold popularity, it does not mean they are true.

In Matthew 5, Jesus presents a strong invitation to meekness. Meekness, according to scholars, refers to a posture of smallness. The meek choose to set aside their strength to favor others. The meek do not aggressively pursue their own rights. The meek display a humility that puts others first.

The mistake that one may make in interacting with someone meek, or the mistake that one may make in choosing meekness is to think that to be meek, one must be weak. One the contrary, the meekest people are the strongest people because the strength they set aside equates to a larger sacrifice. How difficult is it for someone with no strength to set aside their strength? Invite the man in the desert to turn over his empty cup for another, and he will not hesitate. The sacrifice of the man in the desert whose cup is full requires much more sacrifice for the same action.

The kingdoms of man are established by brute strength, manipulation, and the self-assertive. This is not so with the Kingdom of God. Those who choose to set aside their strength and self-protection; those who choose to be small so that they can serve others; these inherit the Kingdom of God. This is a promise of the Creator of humanity and legacy.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to lay down the fight. Perhaps you have been fighting for a long time for the thing that you want to see. Maybe God is waiting for you to stop working out of your strength so that He can work out of His. Perhaps out of a desire to be meek you have fallen into a counterfeit place of apathy and God wants you to ask, “Lord, what would you have me do?” Perhaps today God would have you concern yourself with the rights of another.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 98, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 5:3–9) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 5.3

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Why do we mourn? Knowing when we mourn may be easier to identify than why we mourn. We mourn when we experience loss. If you are human and living life on earth, you have experienced the loss of a loved one; you have experienced the loss of hope; you have experienced the loss of trust; you have experienced the loss of dreams; you have experienced loss.

Though this list is not exhaustive, these are times that we mourn. These are times that we lament.

Finding the answer as to why we mourn can be found in the answer to the question, “why are those who mourn blessed?”

Scholars believe that the mourning that Jesus to which refers relates to the mourning that takes place in those who rightly view this world. Those who rightly view this world see the brokenness of this world and the sin that entangles and poisons souls, and they mourn. They see the sickness of sin that inhibits proper interaction between loved ones, and they mourn. They look at the brokenness and sin inside of themselves that prevents them from loving themself, God, and others well, and they and mourn.

It will go well with those that mourn for these things. How and why would it go well for those who mourn the sin of this world and the way it destroys bodies, souls, relationships, and beauty? It will go well with them because they will be comforted.

Scholars add that the mourning that Jesus refers to in the sermon on the mount applies to a more general application of mourning as the comfort He offers holds more general application. Meaning, blessed are those who mourn for losing a loved one, a safe place, a friendship, or a dream, for they shall be comforted.

I submit that the general application of mourning and the mourning of sin in this world are closely linked. Why do we lose loved ones? Why do other people disappoint and hurt us? Why do dreams awaken our hearts to hope and possibility only to come to nothing? Answer: there is sin in this world.

In looking at this portion of the sermon on the mount, we must ask these two questions:

  1. Am I mourning?

  2. Where do I go for comfort?

If we ignore our need to mourn, we may forfeit our opportunity for a comfort that allows it to go well with us. If we ignore our need to mourn, we may be guilty of not looking on this world rightly. We do not mourn things that we care nothing about. Mourning is the testimony of love. Just look at the number of tears shed for a well-loved person.

This world does not mourn for sin in the same way that a believer does. The soul of an unbeliever may cry “foul” when someone they love dies, but how much more should a believer mourn as they know that apart from Christ, sin steals the eternity of every human? How much more should the believer mourn when physical sickness ravages bodies and steals their ability to move? How much more should we mourn?

Great mourning calls for great comfort. Be careful to answer the second question well: “where do I go for comfort?” If we attempt to use created things to self-medicate our grief, then we have bypassed the source of true comfort: the Holy Spirit.

It goes well for those who mourn sin and experience His comfort.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to recognize that you need to mourn. Perhaps you have hidden your grief long enough. Maybe God wants you to talk to a friend or counselor. Perhaps you have used created things to comfort or hide your mourning. Maybe today you need to stop trying to use sin to comfort the mourning of sin.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 97, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 5:3–9) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

one step: Matthew 5.2

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Each point of the sermon on the mount challenges us with underlying questions that expose our hearts and invite us into deeper places with God. The first point of the sermon on the mount causes these questions to emerge:

  1. What is it to be blessed?

  2. Am I poor in spirit? If not, how do I become that way?

  3. What is the kingdom of heaven?

For the answer to the first question, see one step: Matthew 5.1.

In looking at the second question, it’s helpful to know that to be poor in spirit, one does not have to be poor. Jesus’s intentional inclusion of “in spirit” specifies in what area of life bankruptcy should exist: in spirit. In this first point of the sermon on the mount, Jesus does not glorify poverty as a condition to be sought, as anyone who has experienced true poverty can attest to its horrific reality.

While being financially poor may help us see our spiritual poverty, Jesus suggests a recognition of extreme lack in the spirit rather than a economic condition. Research shows that those who lack in finances statistically have higher religious commitment than those who do not, but “poor in bank account” is not the focus of Jesus here.*

In looking at the third question, and without going into a cross-Gospel examination of the kingdom of heaven (that will have to wait for another time), we can gather that “kingdom of heaven” implies 3 things: 1) there is a king, 2) this king has a dominion - a place of influence, rules, and protection, 3) this king and his dominion is not of this world, but of another unbroken world (which Jesus later teaches us to invite into the space of the natural world).

Sometimes in understanding what someone is saying it helps to know what they are not saying.

In this first point of the sermon on the mount, Jesus is not saying", “you will be blessed if you have no money because if you have no money, you will soon be in charge in all of the places of this world that you have been oppressed.” Surely, this would have sounded like good news (gospel) to many! The Romans were oppressing the Jewish people and some must have felt that they were not able to financially thrive as they would like due to taxation and oppressive rules and regulations. To receive a promise such as this would be exciting, but Jesus was not saying this at all to the Jewish people of His time, and He isn’t saying that to us today.

Jesus is saying this: “it will be well with you if you are one who completely and totally relies on God for all things, recognizing that you have no spiritual resource apart from God. If you yearn for God above all else, then you get to take part in His kingdom. You get to live by and enjoy the protection and rules of the kingdom of heaven.”

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to allow Him to survey your soul. Do you believe that you have finances stored up in your spiritual bank account, acquired by your own means and efforts? Do you recognize your total dependance upon Him? Perhaps God wants to shift your focus from worldly influence and riches to influence in His Kingdom. Maybe God wants to address that place in your life that you have been making so much effort in but do not feel well in your soul about.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

sign up just below for a daily reminder of the one step devotional. click here to return to devotional list.

*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 96, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 5:3–9) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).