Or do you take them as the Lord intends, to be an invitation, right now, to experience the King and his kingdom? Not so much a destination but a journey, despite the inevitable ups and downs, of increasing glory? Not so much a reward but your unfolding birthright as a son or daughter of God?

The Beatitudes, like few portions of Scripture, shine a spotlight on this pattern. Through weakness we manifest divine strength. Through poverty we find true wealth. Through apparent defeat we taste consummate victory. The Beatitudes, in other words, are the Magna Carta of God’s new world, the charter and commission of Christ’s kingdom. They invite

Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27). And to whom is this gift given? To children of God, for “his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3).

We are rhetorically humble because we are not prophets infallibly inspired by God, let alone the One who could speak “with authority” in a way no one else can speak. We are mere messengers of that One: messengers who earnestly mean well, but who forget this bit of the message or never really understood that bit; messengers who never entirely live

In the words of minister Robert Henley, peacemakers are “‘non-conductors’ of bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, and all malice.”15 In practical terms, our call to peacemaking is simply the public demonstration of what the Spirit is doing in our heart—the cultivation and showcasing of Christ at work.

Thomas Watson wrote in the seventeenth century is equally true today: “Satan kindles the fire of contention in men’s hearts and then stands and warms himself at the fire.”7 When we search for the kindling wood of Satan’s fire, we usually find it in the subterranean levels of our heart, particularly in smoldering fears and apprehensions that

basic observation: the way God extends peace resembles the way he imparts justice—to us, in us, and through us. As Paul explains, God offers peace to the justified “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). It is the setting of our minds on the Spirit that results in deep dimensions of peace within (Rom. 8:6). And finally, it is our calling to let

As Philip Yancey noted, “The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity.”25

Ivan Turgenev, the Russian novelist, said it well: “I do not know what the heart of a bad man is like. But I do know what the heart of a good man is like. And it is terrible.”9