Matthew 6:10 Jesus often spoke about the kingdom of God. He wasn’t talking about something remote but a living reality now for those who were willing to live in line with God’s will. The kingdom of God comes to our homes, churches, businesses and...
Matthew 6:9 So begins the Lord’s Prayer. I find everything about this prayer interesting. First of all, I find it surprising how short it is! When I hear people praying, they often speak for a good few minutes. I’m not criticising that, but the p...
Matthew 6:7-8 Having read these verses, the obvious question is: “If God knows everything why bother praying?” The reason for praying is because of the relationship that God wants to have with us. He wants us to spend time with him because that’s...
Matthew 6:1-2 Every Jew knew that giving to the poor was one of their key responsibilities. Jesus confirmed that this would continue to be a major duty for his followers too. However, his main concern was the way in which it was done. It needed t...
Matthew 5:21-22 Far from scrapping the Jewish law, Jesus had come to intensify it, and here’s the first example. Everybody knows that it is wrong to murder, but Jesus dug much, much deeper by stating that it is wrong merely to be angry. What he w...
Matthew 5:17 Throughout his ministry, Jesus seemed to be in constant conflict with the teachers of the Jewish law. So it isn’t surprising that there were those who assumed that his intention was to scrap it. Look at the way in which he failed to...
Matthew 5:15-16 There are two words for good in Greek. One is agathos, which simply defines a thing as good in quality. The other is kalos – that refers to things that are not merely good but also beautiful and attractive. The word used here to d...
Matthew 5:14 One of the most famous of Jesus’ I am sayings was: “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). Those words don’t come as any surprise to us. He was the Son of God and was without sin. He was clearly able to claim that his perfect life...
Matthew 5:13 I love it when I hear people being described as the salt of the earth. I wonder who you think about when that expression is used. Let me tell you about three people who spring to my mind. Some years ago I went to stay with an elderly...
Matthew 5:10-12 This is the last of Jesus’ Beatitudes. They are all amazing statements, and they give us the best possible introduction to Jesus’ teaching. He was introducing his disciples to an upside-down kingdom. When you see things from Jesus...
Matthew 5:9 There is apparently an unofficial United Nations motto that says: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will take flak from both sides.” Any suggestion that the making of peace is easy will only come from those who haven’t started mak...
Matthew 5:8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. One of the greatest privileges of my life in recent years has been to spend a good deal of time with people who are blind or partially sighted. I am constantly blessed by t...
Matthew 5:7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. The simple fact is that we rely totally on the truth that God is merciful. We have sinned against him and those around us and if he were to insist on being just then we w...
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. For us, hunger and thirst will normally be very brief experiences, easily satiated by going to the fridge or turning on a tap. But many Jesus was speaking to originally...
Matthew 5:5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. It’s impossible to exaggerate the revolutionary nature of Jesus’ words. He was introducing his disciples to a totally new upside-down kingdom. This Beatitude remin...
