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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 3 of 5
Matthew 5:1-16
To follow the Lord Jesus is first of all to obey Him (John 12:26). From then on we can show the same characteristics as the Lord Himself. These characteristics the Lord is now going to teach His disciples. Blessed are those whose faith is simple and who do not depend on their own understanding; blessed are those who sorrow for the wickedness of this world without being thereby stopped from doing good and showing mercy; blessed are those who for the sake of the Lord Jesus put up with all kinds of injustice and persecutions . . . This is not the kind of blessing which the majority of men seek – far from it. But for believers, it is enough for them to have the Lord’s approval in order to be happy and blessed. And the joys of the kingdom are reserved for them. Their present position is found in vv. 13, 14. In keeping himself from evil, the Christian on this earth acts as "salt", which preserves from corruption; it has savour, and must give it out (see Job 6:6). He is also "light", with the responsibility of letting the moral features of God shine out before all men, first of all to "all that are in the house": – his own family, and equally in the assembly, the house of God. The bushel is the symbol of trade and business, the bed is the symbol of idleness; both extremes are equally capable of extinguishing all the outshining which should characterise a child of God.
