That’s the good news!
The best news I’ve ever heard is that he wants us to know him as he models us into the likeness of his Son. However, there is ONLY one God so for many who idolize false deities [across the world] this can equate to bad news for them. It all comes down to the fact that many are still not listening to the One God which provides a good reason for me to write on the subject. I have an affinity for writing on subjects that very few are talking about [especially on social media]. Even if you think you are listening to God, once you read this piece [and all referenced materials] you will find yourself falling short. Do not fear though, you are not alone – we ALL fall short! I personally ignored God and his will for more than half of my life. So I thought it would be most beneficial to circle the wagons around one of the most interesting speeches of all time. It’s found within the New Testament in the book of Matthew 5, 6 and 7. Contained therein is the most revered and often quoted words [directly] from Jesus after he climbed up a mountain to deliver a speech [to his apostles] known as “The Sermon on the Mount”. In the end, thousands of people had gathered to hear him speak. This one sermon serves as a blueprint for the followers of Jesus Christ on living a life of righteousness. What Jesus had to say 2,000 years ago is guaranteed to surprise those who read it still today. You will find his words in describing how to live and relate to your fellow man while, at the same time, serving God’s will have stood the test of time.

[Sidenote: One can tell just by diving into this material why it was that the Pharisee’s quickly rejected Jesus and sought to have him eliminated. These principles of living were not how the leaders of the Jews operated, or taught their followers how to conduct themselves – not at all. In fact, no one had ever heard anything like this before coming from a person of authority, especially back in biblical times. I strongly recommend anyone not familiar with this material to read it; I will purposely not regurgitate the entire passages contained in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 as numerous books are available for those that would like to explore what Jesus had to say in his speech on the Mount.]

The first few verses of The Sermon on the Mount are also known as “the Beatitudes”. These statements set a sort of baseline for rewarding those [of us] who possess righteousness in the eyes of God:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” and “Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth” – with these words Jesus is describing the humility of those who recognize a dependence on God [first] in their lives. These are the “prideless” among us who constantly seek God’s will in their lives. Those who live this way he says will inherit/experience what God has in store for them.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs” – Jesus refers to those who have been mistreated and rejected for their beliefs in God, [there were many then and there are many still today]. If you are willing to face persecution on earth for following God then it is said that the kingdom of heaven will be your reward. Of course Jesus himself, along with his disciples, were all persecuted for spreading the word of God and his promises.

Jesus was quoted as saying, “Love your neighbor”
The Jewish leadership at the time felt it completely justified to hate their enemies. Sure, to love those that agree with you and hate the rest was the moniker. People were quite astonished to hear Jesus proclaim for them to “Love your enemies” and even “pray for them”. Why? Because he said it was God’s will, that’s why. As you will see this overriding theme relates to another one I will discuss below. I’ll save my personal arguments for understanding God’s approach towards the judgement of others for later. There is much more to learn from Matthew 5 than I highlight here and I encourage you to read it in its entirety.

Recorded in Matthew 6, Jesus continues on the theme of living righteously
In this section he warns about seeking rewards through public displays of prayer or by gifting to charity. He instructs everyone to pray to God in private for those things you want and need and if it coincides with God’s will you shall receive it. He goes on to say people who seek public attention for their charitable acts will receive only that, no [other] reward from God is forthcoming. So not only are we to pray in private, we are also to give in privacy. This is kind of a cool concept once you think about it, and it has fit into my character all along. Matthew 5 is also where Jesus provides his followers with a model prayer for reaching God, that prayer eventually became known as “The Lord’s Prayer”.

“Judge Not and You Shall Not be Judged”
This command is found in Matthew 7 along with “Whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them” and going along with that, “Treat others the way that you would like them to treat you.” I don’t know about you but for me these two directives are fairly easy to digest. However, remember that Jesus command, “love thy enemies”, from earlier? Add to that his command that we are to pray for our enemies and several other very difficult principles to follow for correct living. But who does this? I know of very few persons that would be, or could ever be, caught praying for their enemies. Jesus goes on to say, “Judge not, and you will not be judged”. It is no doubt we live in a judgmental society. We are often quick to judge others once certain of our antennas go up so my mind began to wonder on this particular topic. Why does God not want us to act as judge and jury when we believe it appropriate? I read some opinion on the subject and it was good but here’s my take on this critical piece of gospel. From God’s perspective [which is optimal] it appears that there are multiple problems with humans calling judgement on each other. Part of the reason has to do with self-serving hypocrisy which is easily discernable. I had to really think about this one though [at a much higher level] because it goes way deeper. Again – full disclosure, this is my opinion as an opinion writer, I think it comes down to as humans we are not omnipresent and omniscient, only God has the ability to see all and know all. The fact that we cannot see all and know all about a circumstance will naturally lead us into bias decision-making. Jesus warned his followers [in this speech] about applying their beliefs and bias to someone else’s circumstances. Humans make mistakes and mistakes would be a fairly common occurrence under the circumstances. Thus, love your neighbor and pray for your enemies is what God wants us to do. He reserves all rights to judgement and decision-making on an individual’s destiny. I find this fascinating, highly intelligent stuff, not intuitive at all. I’m going to add something else to this that might blow your mind, as it has mine, when we judge others and place them under predicaments often times we could be running interference with God’s plan for them. Have you ever thought about this? Remember, he will achieve his plan with us or without us, so best not to interfere with his will. These thoughts together I believe are how avoiding the judgement of others makes the most sense. [Although I’m truly having to work on this one as it does not come natural to me.]

Conclusion
There really is no conclusion to offer here because there is no beginning and there will be no end to God’s plan. Please read Matthew 5, 6 and 7 if you haven’t lately. It has opened my mind and might even open yours in ways you never thought could happen. I believe it will take time to adopt certain ideas drawn from Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount but over time we can all serve God in better ways for it, so thank you Jesus!