Daily Devotional

Step back this morning and look at the whole window. All eight beatitudes together. The sermon asked a beautiful question: who is the portrait? Daniel Doriani observes that the Beatitudes are not only a description of the disciple — they are also a portrait of Jesus himself. He was poor in spirit, emptying himself and taking on flesh (John 1:14). He mourned, weeping at the tomb of Lazarus and over Jerusalem (John 11:35, Luke 19). He was meek: ‘I am gentle and lowly in heart’ (Matthew 11:29). He hungered for righteousness: ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me’ (John 4:34).

He was merciful: when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them (Matthew 9:36). He was pure in heart: tempted in every way, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He was the supreme peacemaker, making peace by the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). And he was persecuted for righteousness’ sake – he who committed no sin bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:22-23). Every beatitude is, first and most fully, a description of him.

This changes everything about how we receive these words. The Beatitudes are not a checklist for earning the kingdom. They are a portrait of the King who earned the kingdom for you. You cannot manufacture mercy out of a hard heart, or produce purity out of a divided one, or be a genuine peacemaker if you have not first made peace with God. You cannot rejoice in suffering unless you are anchored in something larger than the suffering. You cannot grow this fruit by effort alone.

But here is the gospel: the one who was all of these things for you – perfectly, completely, without failure – can produce them in you. The same grace that saves you is the grace that forms you. The Spirit who regenerated you is at work right now to grow in you the character of the King you belong to. That is not a strategy or a self-improvement program. It is a promise. The soil is being prepared. The fruit is coming. What grace grows, grace will complete.