Be Still And Know

READ: Matthew 5.3 NLT “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.” Robert Powell acted the part of Jesus in Franco Zeffirelli’s film Jesus of Nazareth. He claims that his life was changed by the experience and recalls the day when he was filming the Sermon on the Mount. Powell had no time for Christianity but as he preached the sermon he said that he was so affected by its beauty that he began to cry. The tears were not in the script but Zeffirelli wisely kept them in the movie. It is easy to see why he was so affected by these words because they take us to the heart of what it means to be alive. They stand before us as a challenge and encouragement to us all as we seek to understand what it means to live the Christian life. Today’s verse is the first of the so-called Beatitudes. Before we launch into it we need to be clear what Jesus meant by the Kingdom of Heaven, an expression he often used. The Kingdom of Heaven comes where God is allowed to be in c