Matthew 5:7 - How To Bring Heaven to the Dirt and Thirst of Earth

You know thirst a little more in the summer, when humidity wraps heavy and the sun beats steady. You say yes to multiple popsicles a day. Your hair turns lighter and your freckles darker because you write while kids swim, bike, play in the sun.

Swapping out 5-gallon Primo water jugs every couple days tells you your family drinks a lot of water. Unless it’s mostly you. Either way, you’re grateful you now have a whole-house filter (translate: unrationed water).

You like water best with ice, fresh lime, and ten dashes of cayenne. It satisfies your thirst and keeps you awake at the same time. Something about the combination reminds you of Matthew 5:7, which offers an unlikely key to deep satisfaction:

How satisfied you are when you demonstrate tender mercy! For tender mercy will be demonstrated to you.
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Mercy is love in action. Putting the practical into practice. Emulating Jesus. Feeling the squeeze of God’s own tears and joining Him there. Bringing heaven to the dirt and thirst of earth.

Mercy is bringing heaven to the dirt and thirst of earth_Matthew 5:7 response

It’s the stuff mission trips and soup kitchens and inner-city outreaches and programs that sponsor kids, church builds, and well digs are made of. What fills water bottles passed from hand to hand, packaged scoops of rice and dried beans, baskets of just-because gifted on Saturday mornings.

According to Jesus, it’s this outpouring that revives. Quenches. Satisfies. Leave it to Jesus to tell us we must be broken by the things that break His heart in order to be fulfilled.

Outside Vs. Inside Things

If I’m not careful, though, I turn mercy into a list of things to do. Things that make me look compassionate and neighborly. Things I use to curate my impression, convince myself and others that I’m a “good Christian.” Outside, rather than inside, things.

Matthew 5:7 calls me to action. And it also puts a gentle finger on checklists I’ve subconsciously written.

Church attendance.

Volunteering.

Leading.

Bible reading.

Talking clean.

Never getting upset.

Always saying yes.

Sometimes we make it about the thing rather than the why. Try to change the inside by doing the outside things “right.”

Note the caution embedded in Jesus’s instruction. A deeper look at the Hebrew and Aramaic languages, commonly spoken by the people listening to Jesus teach the Beatitudes, reveals that “mercy . . . comes from our innermost being” (Dr. Brian Simmons). The footnote in The Passion Translation further points out that the root word for “mercy” is the same one for “womb.”

As important as it is to put our faith into action, it’s also vital that we get the process in the right order. We start on the inside because what’s in the heart affects everything else.

God is in the business of re-writing the narrative of lives pursuing their own name, fame, and direction. He’s a God who plants and waters with tenderness and compassion. Guides and redirects because He’s holy and also loves us deeply.

God’s not after the pretty we can paint on the outside. He wants all of us—the parts that tend to resist, self-elevate, deflect the glory away from God and to ourselves. And He wants us to know that children of God don’t have to earn what God makes free.

We love big in quiet ways because Jesus taught us how. Copy Him with no strings in the equation because we know we’re already extravagantly loved.

Trying To Be A “Good Christian”

Maybe you’ve tried hard to fit the description of a “good Christian.” You feel the weight of your own expectations—or someone else’s. The pressure to not miss a step—or to measure up. Prove yourself. Be accepted.

You’re in the camp of I’ve-Got-This or the camp of I’ll-Never-Be-Good-Enough. Each comes with baggage, doubts, pride, shame.

We think we’re good enough without God—or that even God can’t fix us.

Congratulate ourselves on staying busy—or let self-pity obscure our ability to love ourselves, God, and others well.

And we’re tired—or we will be. We’ve got questions that haunt us. An emptiness we can’t ignore.

Through the Beatitudes Jesus offers a solution. Come. Come nearer. Let Me still your try-hard striving. Help you exhale.

I already know you can’t be good enough on your own. I don’t need you to be. I’ve got a better plan. A Me-with-you plan that re-writes your story and ignites your heart.

Spend time with Me. Learn My ways. I’ll teach you to show mercy, but it will be about Me, not you.

I imagine Jesus taking a knee, looking you square in the eyes with that irresistible kindness, softly speaking Matthew 11:28-30.

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.
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You don’t have to scrub the outside clean.

Try harder.

Convince anyone.

You can rest.

Invite God in.

Let Him do His thing—and the rest will follow.

Truth is mercy has an eternal quality that’s bigger than humans. We can love people in a million ways, but it’s still a little more about us than it should be unless it’s a response to what God grows inside us.

A Double-Blessing

Another thing about mercy is it’s a two-way street. A giving and a receiving. The double-promise in this verse is that giving mercy away satisfies us on a soul-level, and also that mercy will return to us.

Like water that never runs out, mercy multiples when we give it away. We bless and inadvertently receive blessings ourselves. And like my spicy water flavoring, the way extending mercy uproots our pride, selfishness, and fear, is insanely refreshing.

Let’s Pray

Lord, we admit we’ve been more concerned with the outside of our lives than the condition of our hearts. And still You welcome us—list-makers, I’ve-Got-This, and I’ll-Never-Be-Good-Enough Christians alike.

You teach and guide us with so much grace and kindness. Today we make space for you to do Your work on the inside of us. Show us Your merciful heart so we can mirror you in our homes, neighborhoods, and communities.

Just a friend over here in your corner,

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