The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Those who mourn are blessed, for they will be comforted. The gentle are blessed for they will inherit the earth. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed for they will be filled. The merciful are blessed, for they will be shown mercy. The pure in heart are blessed for they will see God. The peacemakers are blessed for they will be called sons of God. Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
Matthew 5:3-12 HCSB

We want to be blessed, but are we willing to suffer for Christ? He was despised, rejected, tortured, humiliated and hung on a cross to save us from our sins, but we don’t like to be poor in spirit, we don’t like to mourn. We see gentleness as a sign of weakness so we don’t like to be gentle with others. We want to do things our way.

Are you willing to hunger and thirst for righteousness? Are you willing to be merciful to others? We all want God to forgive us, but we don’t want to forgive others. We like to justify our mistreatment of others by saying things like, “Yeah, but you don’t know what they’ve done to me.” You’re right, I don’t know, but God does. And God says that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He says that we are to bless, not curse our enemies. We want a blessing, but are we willing to bless others even our enemies?

Are you willing to strive for righteousness, even if it means that you may suffer persecution? When others insult you and persecute you because of your love for Christ, do you feel blessed or do you long to retaliate?

Let’s be honest, we want God to bless us but we don’t want to work for it. We want God to come through when the new job is on the line or we are having relationship troubles, but are we really willing to go the distance for Him? Are we willing to put Him first in order to be blessed even if that means that we give up anger and bitterness? What if it means that we lay aside our hurt? What if it means that we leave vengeance to God? Are we willing to do that? What if it means that we forget about the past and trust God with the future? Are you willing to give up your Sunday golf game or fishing tournament to go to church to give God honor and praise? Are you willing to turn loose of ten cents out of every dollar you earn to further God’s kingdom?

God wants to bless us. He wants good to give us good things (Jeremiah 29:11). He wants to work everything out for our good (Romans 8:28).  He also wants us to focus on Him and let Him handle all other issues we are dealing with (Matthew 6:33). Are you willing to do that?

God is more than willing to do His job. Are you willing to do yours? Our job is to love the Lord with all our heart, all our soul, and all our minds. God’s job is to fight our battles (2 Chronicles 20;16), to take vengeance on those who have hurt us (Romans 12:19), to provide all we need (Philippians 4:19) and to protect us (Psalm 91). It all sounds great, doesn’t it? But, too often we want to do all the taking, but we are unwilling to give. We want to do things our way and want God to step aside, but hand out the blessings before He goes.

My friend, it just doesn’t work that way. We must humble ourselves. We must lift God up. We must focus on Him and lift our cares up to Him. When we do our best to imitate Christ (Ephesians 5:1), God sees that and blesses us. If you want God to bless you, you have to bless and not curse others even your enemies.

If you have something that you need God’s help with today, humble yourself, turn away from any idols that you may have and seek God with your whole heart. Trust in Him and watch Him work. You will be amazed at what He will do for you.

Have a great day!