Come & See: 10 Cowboy Devotions to Strengthen Your Ride With ChristSample

The Message of the Mesa

“Y’all are the salt of the earth.” Matthew 5:13

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is teaching His disciples, but a whole bunch of other people gather around too. This teaching is called the Beatitudes.

Jesus teaches them all the benefits of being humble, of wanting to do right, of giving mercy to others, of being pure in our thinking, and the list goes on. I don’t think there’s a single one of us who can do all those things all the time. But maybe Jesus wasn’t just describing what we should be doing. Maybe He was describing what He was doing.

Jesus knows we’ll miss the target, but the Good News is that He came to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Of course, it’s good to strive for these things. But Jesus was giving us a trail to follow—one that He cleared for us.

My favorite part of the Beatitudes is very subtle. In verses 1–12, the same phrase is repeated: “Blessed are the ________.” Fill in the blank with those things we spoke of earlier (humble, meek, merciful, etc.). Jesus uses this phrase to include everyone. But have you ever felt lost in the “everyone?" I think we all have. But in these verses, Jesus makes an offer to everyone.

Imagine you’re at the Sermon on the Mount (or as I like to call it, the Message on the Mesa). Thousands of people are there to listen to Jesus—the greatest Preacher ever to live—so He knows how to work a crowd. There’s something for everyone, and everybody’s drinking in every word He says. Each word rings in their ears, reining in their hearts. Nobody has ever explained things like this. This is something new and special, and you know it.

And then it happens.

He turns and looks at you.

Instead of saying, “Blessed are the ________,” He says, “Y’all [you] are the salt of the earth.” And He’s looking right at you when He says it.

Jesus is a personal God. You are not lost in the “everyone.” He knows you and wants you to know Him.

Cowboy Call:

Try something this week. Take Jesus with you everywhere. Visualize that He is right beside you. Talk to Him about everything and everyone you come in contact with. Like a running dialogue in your head, talk to Him. Tell Him about your struggles. Tell Him about your favorite horse hay while you’re at the feed store. Get to know Him, and you’ll learn a lot about yourself.