Theme:   People of the Second Chance - Breaking Down Walls With Grace

This eDevotional was written by a volunteer from Timberlake Church.

READ: Matthew 5:1-10; Luke 13:20-21

THINK: If you're anything like me, reading the Beatitudes (from today’s bible reading) can seem hard to get, and maybe even a little backwards. But they are key to an idea Pastor Ben touched on this weekend about how Christians engage our culture.

In the first century, the Gospel (meaning the Good News we learned) changed society in many ways… regarding slavery, power structures, violence, gender inequities, prejudice, religion, marital roles and relationships, and what was considered acceptable morality. The Gospel contained explosive ideas back then with Jesus promoting notions like brotherhood, humility, love, forgiveness, and sacrifice across a culture that valued very much the opposite.

In essence, Christianity won. The culture changed. Values evolved. Attitudes altered. Habits transformed. Social structures realigned. In big ways and small, the world shifted. Christ followers changed the culture and the world! We still enjoy the benefits of that influence today – centuries later!

It's important to see that the Gospel very directly engages culture, then and now. It challenges little things—attitudes, habits, ideas, relationships— but heres the intersting thing: It happens mostly at the level of the individual. Change happens one person at a time, one heart at a time.

Would one Christian living like that make any dent in the world? How about two of us? Fifty? A thousand? What might happen to our community, our city, our country—as we interacted with waitresses and rude drivers and crying secretaries and struggling neighbors—if you and I took the Beatitudes seriously? Would we start a revolution that might have the power to change a world?

DO: Pick something you want to do today to positively influence our culture. Choose a specific beatitude from Matthew 5 that you can work on.

PRAY: Father, I’m so thankful to be part of a church that takes seriously Your directive to engage our culture, and influence it positively and purposefully for Your glory. Help each of us today to be used by You to influence our own little corners of this globe. Use us to draw people to You, and help us live in a way that changes how others might see You. God we want to make this world a better place, show us how to do that. We pray in the name of Jesus, Amen!