Clinging to Christ's Blessing, Matthew 5:1-12

Too often, we cling to that which God has not given to us, but what happens when we cling to what is given, seeing it as the place of blessing? Jesus’ Beatitudes reveal to us not how to be blessed, but that God is blessing his people in the midst of their lives.

Image: Phillip Medhurst, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Luyken%27s_Jesus_6._The_Sermon_on_the_Mount._Phillip_Medhurst_Collection.jpg

Redeemed for Us, Luke 2.22-40, Hebrews 2.14-18

Jesus being presented in the Temple may seem like a random even from his life, yet it contains a great amount of redemptive significance. It pushes us to realize how seriously the writers of the New Testament took Jesus’ full humanity and how it was necessary that he be incarnate. It is a reminder that everything that he did was for us and our salvation.

Image: Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Stefan Lochner, 1447 (Public Domain). Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stefan_Lochner_-_Presentation_of_Christ_in_the_Temple_-_WGA13347.jpg