Week 5 + 6

Week 5- Mercy 

A comment that really stirred my heart from this sermon was “If we are asking God for mercy while refusing to extend mercy to someone else, then we are in that moment not asking for mercy….When we can’t give mercy we are in most need of mercy”.  When I find myself asking for mercy, I ask in order to be purified again or feel the presence of God, but that simply shows I am more concerned for myself and not for others. Although this idea is exposing my imperfections with my relationship with God, I am encouraged to know that it is in moments like these where mercy is most near. I pray that I don’t seek mercy to justify myself but to be in sync with the gospel. Mercy bears much fruit and my prayer is that God continues to soften my heart so that I can show compassion and forgiveness to others so that I can be a bearer of that fruit. Lord, continue being the surgeon of my heart!   

Week 6- Pure in Heart

Loved hearing how this beatitude is an extension of the other beatitudes; you can’t think about this beatitude separately from the other ones. To be pure in heart is not imitating Christ, because in that sense we are still standing alone. Rather, it is the incorporation of Christ in our life as that allows us to walk side by side with Him. I think this concept is something I have struggled with for a while because I see myself wanting and craving Him, but at the same time it is hard for me to give up my brokenness to the Lord. I want to run to life from death, and the only way to do that is exactly what was explained in all the previous beatitudes. I want Jesus, I want him today, and I want him now. I pray I’m not preoccupied with my own heart and hold everything to myself, but rather give everything up to him who has already taken all my sins from me. Lord continue to purify my heart!