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!
              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Yours in Christ,
              Paul N. F.