At church today our pastor, Randy, preached on Choosing to Change" based on the first two Beatitudes in the Gospel of Matthew.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
"Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted."
Randy is a gifted preacher who gave me pause to think about how God interacts with us. Randy said to be poor in spirit is to empty out ourselves (our spirits) and to mourn means to recognize our wretchedness and despair in our sinfulness. This prepares us for God to change us and make us blessed (happy). We must do this because we are unable to make any meaningful change under our own power. The only true comfort and hope for us is for God to change us instead of what we so often attempt to do on our own by escaping through emotional crutches. To follow Jesus requires us to empty our spirit so Jesus can enter and change us.
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