Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Thursday, February 5, Matthew 5:10

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (KJV)

It's interesting to me that this is spoken immediately following the "Peacemaker" passage. And it would do a lot more for the "Christian Activists" if they would put the two together as well.

We defend "righteousness". Always have and always will. Not, however, how the world defends their causes, through disruption, intimidation and violence. We have been given a tremendous gift in our country to vote, the possibility to run as lawmakers to change laws, and a relatively free amount of speech to express our views. But if we are defending the cause only for the "cause's" sake, we are wasting our time.

The way to nip an unrighteous practice in the bud is to get to the very heart of it. The "head of the snake", so to speak. And from the very beginning of time we've known the snake, and how to crush it.

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15)

As time progressed, we found that the "seed" was leading us to one "Seed". We found that in Israel's prophecy the "the sceptre shall not depart fr0om Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10)

And we found that "Shiloh" was from the root of Jesse, the father of David, who was promised in an unconditional covenant that his seed would rule forever. "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." (Revelation 5:5)

And He will establish righteousness.

The righteousness of this world leads to a worldwide tribulation. Their peace is the peace of the Beast, the Antichrist. So when we go about trying to bring righteousness in the way of the world, we are simply following the path that leads to the beast.

We present the righteousness of Christ, first and foremost. If we defend the defenseless without the hope of Christ, we are just taking them from one false hope to another. The kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are persecuted for righteousness, because they are speaking of Him who is truly Righteousness. Any other righteousness is simply filthy rags, as Isaiah said in his prophetic book.

It is a heart change, not a head change. Spend more time preaching the righteousness of Christ. If you have a burden for certain causes, make sure you are equipped with the real answer. And do not use the ways of the world. Use the way of Christ.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

Memory Helps

"Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (KJV)

One of the memory books I read with biblical themes uses a "cute purse" for "persecute". I liked it because it can really stick out. So a simple word picture could be a woman holding a cute purse full of dimes (ten-cents to remind me that this is verse 10) with a cross on it, being lifted by the mighty (five-fingered for chapter 5) "hand" of God into the kingdom of heaven. It is sitting on a cloud under a big green "Mat" for Matthew. Sounds silly, but it works really well to link this verse to Matthew 5:10.

And if you choose to use a "memory character", mine is "DaiSy" Duck, (D=1, S=0, vowels fillers) who is the character holding the "cute purse" full of dimes to reinforce the number 10.