Stand Up

I was reading in Matthew last night from chapter 3-6 and I have read through Matthew before, but by reading through it again, your eyes pick up things that have great significance in your life than they picked up before. One of the passages that stood out to me most was a passage in Matthew 5.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a hill and sat down. His followers came to him, and he began to teach them, saying:

"They are blessed who realize their

spiritual poverty,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to

them.

They are blessed who grieve,

for God will comfort them.

They are blessed who are humble,

for the whole earth will be theirs.

They are blessed who hunger and thirst

after justice, 

for they will be satisfied.

They are blessed who show mercy to

others,

for God will show mercy to them.

They are blessed whose thoughts are pure,

for they will see God.

They are blessed who work for peace,

for they will be God's children.

They are blessed who are persecuted 

for doing good,

for the kingdom of heaven belongs to

them.

"People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed. Rejoice and be glad, because you have a great reward waiting for you in heaven. People did the same evil things to the prophets who lived before you.""

Matthew 5:1-11

"In the same way, you should be a light for

other people. Live so that they will see the

good things you do and will praise your

Father in heaven."

Matthew 5:16

These two verses are really encouraging to me. I find that it's hard not to act as the world acts and set myself apart from it. I'm pretty sure you feel the same way too sometimes. If we act differently, we're scared of what others might think about us and what others might tell others about us. So we just act like everyone else; Pray at home before we eat, but don't pray at school before lunch, when we're at a friend's house or even at a restaurant. We soon get used to it that we don't even consider it. I know I've gotten to the point where I forget to pray before I eat my lunch at school and I've only realized it recently. I do not like that at all, and I will try to remember to pray before eating. But that isn't our only concern....there's also standing up for our faith. Even like the simple thing of telling others not to swear around us because we do not want those words in our minds, we want to have clean minds. This will let others see that you're different. It could be a good and bad thing. But should we let the worry of it being bad get to our heads? Is that what Jesus tells us to do? No! He tells us that people will insult us and hate us because we follow him. He also tells us that we will be blessed if we do what he tells us and we will be rewarded for the times that people will let us down because of our faith! He calls us to be a light for other people and live the way that he has called us to live so that they will see the good things that we do. See? If you follow him whole heartedly then you will be greatly rewarded. Do not be scared to stand up for your faith.