This is about the teachings of Christ to those people that have and dont have faith in god yet.
In the beginning of Matthew 5, Jesus preaches to his disciples and says that God will bless you if you considered one of His followers and it will earn you passage to heaven, where there are many great rewards for you. Jesus then preaches that we are salt, but if we lose what makes us salt, we will be thrown away and useless. Jesus also says that we are light. Lights are not put under something when lit and hidden; they are put on a stand for everyone to see. Everyone can also see and learn to praise God. Jesus says to His disciples that God's law will never disappear until it is accomplished. If you ignore it, you will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven, but if you do not, you will be called great. Jesus continues to preach about anger. He says that murder is not the only thing that can subject you to judgment. Simply being mad about someone or calling him or her a name can also just as well subject you to judgment. Regarding adultery, Jesus preaches that even looking at another woman with lust is a sin. He says to cut off one part of your body that is causing you to sin rather than have your entire body thrown into hell. Jesus tells his disciples that a divorce, unless the latter has been unfaithful, is a sin because it will cause them both to commit adultery. Jesus continues to teach about making vows. He says you should not make them because everything is a part of God. Simply answer yes or no because anything more is from “the evil one”. Jesus tells his disciples about revenge. He says that it's not just about an equal give and take. It's about going the extra mile and giving to those who ask and not turning away from those who want to borrow. Lastly, Jesus preaches to his disciples that they must love their enemies. If they only love their friends, they will not be rewarded because they are no different from everyone else. If they love their enemies also, they will learn to be more like God. God offers “sunlight” to everyone, good or evil, and this is how He wants His children to be. He wants us to be perfect, just as He is perfect.
The 3 Challenges
One inspiration that this reading has given me is that I need to begin to study myself more. By this, I do not mean my physical characteristics and features, but more the quality of my character. God will bless those who follow Him. I try to follow Him and be as much like Him as I can, but it is impossible to achieve perfection, which is His standard. He has a plan for how he wants us to be and the kind of people he wants us to become. I need to figure out what these things are and make sure that they are qualities I already possess. I know God blesses me all the time in everything I do. In fact, I almost think He blesses me too much and I know I do not deserve it all. He is a forgiving God and that's what makes Him so amazing but also so curious. It makes me wonder why He would do that? It's because He loves me but I want to challenge myself and become the kind of person he wants me to be.
The only true reason that I can accomplish this is by constantly reminding myself of my ultimate goal and asking myself “Do I possess all these qualities? Do I meet all the requirements that God has set for me?” I have to remind myself to stay on this task because if I forget about it, I could fall into the devils trap and get hooked on something else. This is not God's will because it is my fault that I did not stick with God and his plan for my life.
My second challenge for myself is to “remain salty” and to be a light. People all over may say that they are Christians, but a lot of them have a very different meaning of a Christian than God does. They might believe in God and go to church and read the Bible, but this doesn't make them a Christian. They don't care to spend time one-on-one with God and get to know Him and follow their path made by Him. People don't “stay salty” because of pressures and the people they choose to surround themselves with. They also seem to grow out of loving God and following Him and they get burnt out. This is why the population of Christians is very low in today's society.
I want to stay interested in God because, in all honesty, I don't know much about hell and Satan, but I am afraid to go there and I don't plan on finding out just what its like. God has a plan for me and I chose that one! I can do this by reading the Bible more, not for the purpose of becoming a better Christian, but maybe it will show me through God's words what I need to do to find my plan or maybe it will have it hidden in there for me. All that needs to be done is searching.
My third and last challenge for myself from this chapter is to try and love my enemies. The bible really has a point about that when Jesus addresses His disciples. God loves everyone because He created us all. He has blessed us all and many are oblivious to that. His standard is perfection and He wants everyone to love Him, no matter if they are good or evil. We should be the same way if we want to be more like God. We should accept people even if they have done something wrong or tried to hurt us.
I can only think of one way that is fit for me to go about doing this. That is to forgive my enemies for everything they did. Try to apologize and tell them about God and if they wont listen, I figure there is nothing more I can do but pray that they find Him on their own. I guess a new motto to help me remember to do this is to love my enemies like I love those that I love. God follows a motto something like this so His followers should also. I believe that if it is God's will to get someone addicted to Him, it will happen in time, but I would like to make a difference and forgiving my enemies and making peace with them is, in my opinion, quite a step forward.
