A tour of my Beatitudes Workbook
In my last post I shared a post about my very first workshop! This workshop goes through the Sermon on the Mount with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and his book Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. In that post I pointed out that the best way to learn from this book is to interact with it. And that’s what this workshop and journal are designed to do. How, you might ask? Come, sit down with me as I take you on a tour through my journal…
You see, when I started reading Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ book, I knew I wanted to squeeze every last drop of goodness out of it as I could. My heart ached to remember what I read, and then to apply it. To take it from a head knowledge to beautiful, more like Jesus, heart change. So I did what any good notebook nerd does and started figuring out some prompts to ask myself that would help me apply each Beatitude to every area of my life, as specifically as possible. (No big deal, right? It’ll be fine.)
The workbook that came out of that project isn’t the standard fill-in-the-blank Bible study, because no one needs any more of those. And they never seem to help me remember anything after I’m done with the study. (So frustrating!) Instead, the prompts help you put the Beatitude you are studying into action in different areas of your life. Real, personal, practical application of each Beatitude. (Warning: the honest insight you get might be painful. There may be tears and confession for things you had no idea were things. But oh, you’ll see the beauty of our redeeming and transforming Savior!)
As I shared the journal with friends, and we worked through it in our own study group, we realized this was a whole new level of personal application. We all had different answers, personal to our lives, and they were all eye-opening as to how we could actually apply the truth we were learning!
Each chapter has a two page spread in the workbook. The left side page has prompts to help you remember and understand key thoughts about each Beatitude. Then, the right side page is where it gets real. (One of the teens I was doing this with always loved the left side page, then when we got to the right side, she dubbed it the “to die” side. So true. But so, so good.)
All the way through each Beatitude, God was faithful to open my eyes to my sin. But He never left me there, wallowing in the mire of self-pity and guilt. It was like having a tender, infected wound cut open and cleaned out with disinfectant. It hurt. But as the Doctor always does, he applies the healing salve of the Gospel to the wound and bandages it up in the hope and power of God. He lifts your face to gaze into the face of Jesus, where our hope and strength lives.
You guys, I can’t say enough about how good this study on the Sermon on the Mount is. It truly is the most life changing study I’ve done because I not only read it, but deeply interacted with it. The instruction and interaction helped me clearly understand Jesus’ Beatitudes. I’m praying many of you join me on this journey and bravely enter into the Sermon on the Mount. As you read each chapter, then work through the workbook pages, truly thinking and praying through each question, you will see the glorious gospel and the call of Jesus to true Beatitude living.
Click over here to see what is included, and for a very limited time (only until March 23rd) it is half-off!
