From Rags To Riches

From Rags To RichesReader: Una DavisDate: 14th May 2022Passage: Matthew 5:3-------------------We are always interested in stories where someone who is born into poverty rises above his background and through effort becomes rich. Jesus Christ speaks about people who were the' blessed ones' and they were poor indeed the word that was used by Jesus describes them as being extremely poor. But Jesus was not speaking about people who had no money or possessions; he was referring to people who realised they had absolutely nothing good in themselves to make them acceptable to God. They realised their nee for him to help them. They realised they needed to see that their only hope of being saved was to depend on God's mercy alone.The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 - there are eight of them — all have to do with people who have decided to put themselves under the reign of God and to live out their lives with God as their King and Lord. When we do this, all the riches of God's kingdom become ours — the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus, the riches of God's mercy, the riches of God's steadfast love. And all of this will make us rich in every way so that we then can be generous in passing on the message of God's rich grace to all who need to hear it.Rags to riches! It's the story of every Christian because we had nothing to bring to Christ except our sinfulness but in the richness of his mercy he gives us new life in the kingdom of his grace. If you are a Christian thank him now.