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If God Ruled The World - Matthew 5
If God Ruled The World - Matthew 5
If God ruled the world… Well, He DOES. Jesus is Lord of Lords, and King of kings. He has all authority in heaven and earth. All people are subject to His teaching and will be judged according to His word. The problem is the same old problem that has been here since Adam and Eve sinned: people choose to live by their own will and desire. As in Noah’s day, we see a world where their thought is upon evil (that is, what God calls evil). As in the days of the judges, every man does what is right in his own eyes but NOT what is right according to God. Why would we expect our generation to be different? It isn’t, nor was it different in Jesus’ day.
What would people be like if they chose rather to walk with God? Turn to the beatitudes of the sermon on the mount and see the great kingdom principles. It is possible to walk with God in an evil generation (Noah, Enoch, Ezra, etc.).
Jesus here describes godly people: they are poor in spirit (not spiritually arrogant but submissive unto God), mourn over any and all disobedience and sin, are gentle and self-controlled, hunger and thirst to be righteous, are pure and single-minded in their service unto God, are peacemakers.
Notice, however, that living like that in the present world brings worldly problems: persecution, insults, lies, etc. The world not only walks to a different drummer, it opposes such godly principles.
Jesus WAS this kind of person. Following HIM is to be conformed to HIS IMAGE. Jesus was persecuted, lied about, rejected, and put to death. If the world responded that way to Him, why would anyone think that those who chose to live LIKE HIM would be treated any different?
Do these principles work ‘in the world’? No, for the world walking by different principles. Yet, most people still long for the RESULTS that come from people living according to such kingdom principles.. If everyone DID live by these principles there would be no persecution, insults, false rumors, etc.
I can’t control the world, but I am to control myself. I am not to be conformed to the world and its principles, but to be transformed into the very image of the son of God. Question, do these beatitudes describe YOU? To the degree they do not, you are part of the problem.
Hugh DeLong
