Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom in heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  Matthew 5:3-6  NIV

I want to spend the rest of this week talking about a teaching that Jesus did called the Beatitudes.  We have often spoken about how we are called to act just the opposite of the way we really want to act.  In other words, its easy to get angry and be mad and try to have the last word.  It’s not so easy to do it the way the Bible tells us to do it, but the reward comes from following God’s word.  Yes, you may get some temporary satisfaction if you get the last word or win the fight, but your eternal reward is worth so much more.  In this teaching Jesus tells us how we should act.  He also tells us what we can expect when we do what He calls us to do as Christians.  We will begin by looking at the first four.

None of us want to be poor in spirit.  None of us want to be broken.  We want to feel whole and happy.  However, as Christians we will go through hard times.  We will go through times when our spirit feels broken and beat down.  Jesus tells us that ours is the kingdom of heaven.  There is a great eternal reward waiting for those of us that go through hard times here on earth.

None of us want to mourn, but we all go through it.  If we live long enough, we will endure many seasons of mourning.  We will lose those that are near and dear to us.  The Bible tells us to be thankful in all things.  It never says that we are not to mourn.  God understands that our hearts are heavy and we miss our loved ones when they pass away.  He does, however, promise to comfort us.  I pray that if you face the loss of a loved one that you are in a close relationship with God.  He promises comfort and He will deliver.

Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.  This is a biggie.  You see, we live in a very competitive world.  We look out for number one.  We have to fight and struggle for what we want.  We have to come out on top.  This verse tells us that the meek shall inherit the earth.  In the end, the meek win.  When I hear the word meek I automatically think humble.  Someone who approaches head down, voice low.  This is the kind of person that usually seems to go unnoticed, the kind of person that the world seems to swallow whole.  Over and over again, the Bible tells us that God loves the humble person.  The Bible tells us that humility comes before honor.  God honors humility.  We are told that God hates pride and pride goes before destruction.  The prideful will be destroyed.  For those of us that plan on going to heaven, our life on earth is just practice.  You see, in heaven we will humble ourselves before the Lord.  We will praise the Lord continually.  We will love the Lord and seek Him with our whole heart.  So if you are not doing these things, you better get busy.  We have no idea how long we will have to practice here before we are called up to heaven.  But God does promise us that if we are meek and humble here that our reward is waiting for us.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.  We live in a world where victims are often victimized all over again by our “justice” system.  Sometimes justice and righteousness just seem to be empty words.  As Christians, we sometimes long for justice and righteousness.  There is one thing that we can count on, however, we serve a mighty God.  We serve a God of vengeance, justice, and righteousness.  He will vindicate those who have suffered at the hands of the evil here on earth.  We are called to be righteous and be in God’s image as best we can.  If we love Him and seek a close relationship with Him, he will fill us with righteousness and we will see justice in the end.

I encourage you to not live for the moment.  Live for eternity.  Focus on the end goal.  The world calls us to live in the way that feels right.  The Bible calls us to live in the way that IS right.  I don’t know why God made those things that feel right to be wrong, but that’s the way He made us.  I guess He just really needed to know what we were made of.  Maybe that’s one of those questions that He will answer for us in heaven. Don’t live by your feelings, live by His word.  The Bible clearly tells us that there are great rewards waiting for those of us that finish well.

Have a great day!