Who Is Really Blessed? A 9-Day Devotional from Skye JethaniSample

IF JESUS WAS SERIOUS . . .THEN WE CANNOT SEPARATE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD FROM OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHERS.

ONE OF THE RECURRING themes of Jesus’ sermon is the inseparable link between our relationship with God (the vertical) and our relationship with others (the horizontal). He repeatedly emphasizes that how we treat others will determine how our heavenly Father will treat us. This idea was as uncomfortable to hear then as it is now.

For example, He said “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” Later, Jesus makes it clear that God’s forgiveness comes with a condition — we also must forgive others (see Matt. 6:14–15). Of course, this message isn’t unique to the Sermon on the Mount. It permeates the Old Testament law and the writings of the prophets, and it’s carried on by Jesus’ apostles.

Perhaps the reason we find this theme throughout Scripture is because the Lord knows our human inclination to separate the vertical and the horizontal. We desperately want to believe that we can stand blameless before God and utterly despise, mistreat, and condemn those created in His image. This is one of the most common and pernicious traits within religious communities. In fact, when the vertical and horizontal are completely severed, it’s not uncommon for religious people to use God to justify their mistreatment of others. This is precisely what religious leaders, the Pharisees, did in Jesus’ time. Those who are comfortable praising God while showing contempt for people look more like the Pharisees who killed Jesus than the disciples who followed Him.