In the days of Amos, God accuses them of making "the poor of the land to fail." That is, the poor were brought down to such a low poverty level that they never could escape from it....
Aaron Berry
Being “poor in spirit” does not mean having a spirit of abjection or wallowing in misery. While it is appropriate for us to have no misconceptions about our own spiritual depravity apart from Jesus, i...
John D. Barry
The poor are near and dear to God’s heart. How we treat the impoverished is a major concern throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. You simply cannot have the gospel of Jesus and neg...
Emma Danzey
The Lord calls us in His Word to look out for the needs of the poor. We are to love them well. We are worshiping God when we care for them. We are loving Jesus when we love people who have needs....
Maggie Cooper
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus leads the Beatitudes with "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." But we can get mixed up in what exactly it means to be "poor in spiri...
Britt Mooney
Jesus' parable tells of a rich man who dies and goes to hades, and a poor man who is taken to paradise. Although a wide chasm separates them, they are still able to communicate with each other. What a...
Clarence L. Haynes Jr.
What exactly is Jesus saying to this young man? The Bible teaches “blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), but do we have to be financially poor as well? Surely if this man wanted to follow Jes...
Emma Danzey
Jesus’ whole birth story was probably not what any of the Jews imagined. The Savior of the world was born in a smelly stable, placed in a manger, and His first visitors were poor shepherds on night du...
Greg Grandchamp
What the Bible does not do is condemn wealth. What the Bible condemns is the love of money, in other words, putting money first and foremost in our lives and making our faith secondary. And Jesus cert...
Kayli Thompson
After weeks (months?) of planning, Christmas day seems to come and go in a flash. Before you know it, the gifts are all opened, the food is eaten and the family is scattered. Is there a way to reclaim...
Ed Jarrett
God’s expectation is not just that judicial justice would prevail. But that acting justly toward others would also be a priority. That we would be doing what is right in our dealings with other people...
There are three general questions about Jesus’ Beatitudes which need to be asked. These concern the people described, the qualities commended and the blessings promised....
Russell Moore
Too many of our “opponents” see us as morally-prissy Victorians who don’t want people doing “naughty” things in our presence. Let’s demolish that pretense....
D.L. Moody
I often rejoice that Christ did not say this to the woman at the well, nor to that woman who was a sinner. If He had said it to them, people would have said, "Oh, that poor woman needed to be converte...
Mike Leake
Seeking justice (for self or others) feels like the task of Sisyphus, endlessly attempting to roll a boulder up the hill. Each little victory is stamped out by a news cycle and a social media algorith...
Clarence L. Haynes Jr.
While visiting the home of rich Pharisee, Jesus comments that when the man throws a banquet, he should invite only the poor and needy. In this way, he will be blessed. To explain further, Jesus tells ...
Brad Simon
Chosen by God to deliver a powerful message to Israel, Amos is neither trained as a prophet nor the son of a prophet. A devout man with a heart full of faith, Amos embraced his role as a messenger of ...
Betty Dunn
Jesus preached the Sermon on the Plain after a night of praying on a mountainside and a morning spent choosing his 12 disciples (Luke 6). He delivered his sermon on level ground and the Sermon on the ...