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| <~~~ BACK Now here's the challenging part. Go back and read the Beatitudes, addressing them strictly to yourself. If you're honest, you'll discover you don't live up to God's ideal. The wonderful part is that no human could ever fully live up to the Beatitudes-and God knows this and accepts you anyway. The question is, do you deal with the knowledge of your inadequacy like the Pharisees did? Do you shrug them off and call the Beatitudes "opium for the masses?" Do you quietly let the Beatitudes slip out of your mind and move on to other sections of the Bible? Or do you accept Jesus' words for what they are, and let God work within you? I don't think it's a coincidence that the Beatitudes also map out the journey of the Christian: ***Feel Sorrow & Come Clean ~~Blessed are the poor in spirit, because they are desperate enough to turn to God in their need. They also have no silly notions about their importance. There are so many broken-hearted and disillusioned people on earth today. But it's for the broken-hearted that Jesus came and died-and if they're willing to come to Him, they'll become God's inheritors. The very first step to coming to God is to recognize your disillusionment, your broken-heartedness-your "poor spirit." ~~Blessed are mourners, for God will comfort them and wipe the tears from their eyes. Think back to when you hurt yourself as a child; whose comfort felt the best? Probably your mom or dad's. Remember the warm and secure feeling you had when they held you after you scraped up your knees? Now imagine being comforted by God when you scrape up your spirit. What could possibly be more comforting? Once we recognize our "poor spirit," we can come to God, mourning over our old lives and how we separated ourselves from Him. ~~Blessed are the meek, for when it comes down to it, they will win the spiritual war and God will give them the earth. Being meek is not the same thing as being weak Some translations, searching for a more comparable English word, use "gentle." Some scholars also point out that the original Greek word emphasizes "genuine dependence upon God." The Bible tells us that the meek don't fight to always be right; they don't try to will others into thinking as they think; they don't slug back when someone punches them. The meek aren't too proud to admit their faults. The meek aren't too proud to ask God for help. Instead, moment by moment, they give themselves over to God. Once we come to God, mourning over our past and asking forgiveness for it, we can ask Jesus Christ into our hearts, and give ourselves over to Him completely. Allow God In ~~Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for God will show them justice as they've never seen on earth. Interestingly, the original Greek means to "hunger and thirst" for whole things. (For example, not just a piece of bread, but the whole loaf.) So rather than waiting for justice here on earth--which will only be partial and never complete--Christians can expect whole and complete justice in heaven. Once we give ourselves over to Jesus Christ, we can expect that a real hunger and thirst for His word and His world will come to us. I once read something that called this "being intoxicated with God." Instead of being hungry for things, Christians learn to hunger for God's truth. ~~Blessed are the merciful, because God will in turn show them mercy. The world would have us feel justified in many of our less-kind actions. "Teach 'em a lesson" and "I have to move on" are phrases we often hear. But Jesus gave this simple message repeatedly: If you forgive each other, God will forgive you. Who among us doesn't need forgiveness? Mercy means more than just forgiveness, though. It also means actions that relieve the misery of others. Once we're living intimately with God and His truth, we can then truly be merciful instead of self-seeking. ~~Blessed are the pure in heart, for they are the ones who will be close to God. Simply put, those who are not pure keep themselves an arm's length from God. The pure of heart don't have double motives. The pure of heart don't lust. The pure of heart don't covet. Only with purity of heart can we truly "see" (come to understand) and live beside God. MORE ~~~> |
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