CLAIM WHAT IS YOURS

Matthew 5:1-12

In this book Claim What is Yours, David Grubb wrote, "For more than 40 years, Ace Pawn Shop had been a fixture on West Main Street in the hometown of my childhood. Now it was closing. Fred and Lydia Fischer had run the shop as a ‘mom and pop’ operation, and when Fred died, Lydia found that she couldn’t go on alone. "Rather than sell the business, Lydia decided to close up the shop and move south to retire. As one final gesture of appreciation to the customers who had made life so good for her and her husband, she sent a card to everyone who had an item in pawn and offered it back free of charge. The sign in the window told the story: ‘Pawn Shop Closing: Claim What is Yours.’"

God had invited all believers in Christ to claim what is ours, and the Sermon on the Mount lists a number of these wonderful gifts: the kingdom of heaven (salvation), comfort in mourning, the prospect of inheriting the earth, spiritual fulfillment, mercy, fellowship with God, adoption into God’s family, and an eternal home in heaven. When we begin to feel spiritually poor, it’s time to ask, seek, and knock (Matthew 7:7). Before another day passes, we can, by faith, "claim what is ours."

O the unsearchable riches of Christ! Wealth that can never be told! Riches exhaustless of mercy and grace, precious, more precious than gold.