What does it truly mean to be blessed? If we were to ask a friend they might say that to
be blessed is to have all you want and desire. To be satisfied and happy with life.
However, in the beatitudes, Jesus gives us a new definition for what it means to be truly
blessed.
When we read the beatitudes, we are met with many contradictions, for example; those
who mourn and are persecuted are considered blessed. Why is this the case? As Jesus
taught his disciples and the crowd at the top of the mountain, his main message was
designed to explain how different the kingdom of heaven is compared to other earthly
kingdoms. In his teachings, we find contradictions to the world idea of happiness and
prosperity. Jesus proposes that the only way to attain blessing is to be in right standing
with God through relationship and faith.
In our world today, we seek to gain satisfaction from many things; good grades, fancy
clothes, social media attention, money etc. However, Jesus explained that the only way
to be truly satisfied is to desire right standing with God (Matt 5:6). In the Bible we meet a
man by the name of David, who sort God with all his power and might. He wrote many
psalms about his pursuit of God. Though David battled with sin and other distractions, he
was called a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam13:14). As modern day disciples of Jesus
we can learn a few things from David, significantly his devotion to God.
We frequently hear of the lack of social justice in our world through the news and in the
beatitudes, Jesus explained that we are blessed when we mourn sin and injustice in us
and around us. As children of God we are called to hate the sin that pulls us away from
our heavenly father and to hate the injustice in our world. When we hate sin, we can
humbly approach His throne of grace and repent. Only then can be truly comforted by
His Holy Spirit.
The last statement of the beatitude is probably the most difficult to comprehend. When
we as Christians are persecuted, mocked, lied on and shamed for no reason except our
faith in Jesus, we are called blessed. Jesus goes further and even encourages us to be
glad and happy it about. Thankfully, Jesus only taught us what he himself had to go
through. Just as the old testament prophets had prophesied, Jesus was mocked (Luke
22:63) spat on (mark14:65) and persecuted. We can have joy in knowing that we partner
with him in suffering when we also go through the same things. We rejoice and are
counted blessed because we know Jesus overcame this world and we as his follows will
one day rule with him for all eternity.
By Claud Jaiyeola
Song Recommendation
Build your Kingdom - Rend Collective
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