CHRIST THE BLESSED ONE

        By A. W. Tozer
 
        Wear my yoke--for it fits perfectly--and let me teach you;
         for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your
         souls; "for I give you only light burdens."
                                                                        Matthew 11:29-30
             I feel great sorrow for those who read the Sermon on
         the Mount and then conclude that Jesus was providing a
         word picture of men and women comprising the human
         race.  In this world,  we  find  nothing approaching  the
         virtues of which Jesus spoke in the Beatitudes.
 
             Instead of poverty of spirit, we find the rankest kind of
         pride.  Instead of mourners, we find pleasure seekers.
         Instead  of  meekness,  we  find  only  arrogance,  and
         instead  of hunger  after  righteousness,  we  hear  men
         saying, "I am rich and increased with goods and have
         need of nothing!"
 
             Instead of mercy, we find cruelty.  Instead of purity of
         heart,  we  encounter  corrupt  imaginings.  Instead  of
         peacemakers, we find men quarrelsome and resentful,
         fighting back with every weapon at their command.
 
             Jesus said He came to release us from our sad heritage
         of sin.  Blessed is the sinner who finds that Christ's words
         are the Truth itself; that He is the Blessed One who came
         from above to confer blessedness upon mankind! 

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                Yours in Christ,
                 Paul N. F.