Be-Attitudes
The sermon of the mount. The longest exposition we have of Jesus Christ’s preaching. It says a crowd gathered around Him and He told his disciples to sit and began to teach them. Later on we are led to believe that the crowd heard all of His words, for they were amazed at them, but yet He was teaching directly to his disciples. He tells His followers to sit down even in the midst of a great multitude of people who were gathering and the first words out of His mouth is - “Blessed is he...”
The beatitudes have long amazed and befuddled those who have come upon Jesus’ words. If you are poor, in pain, suffering, starving, lacking water, meek, humble, and persecuted, it is you who are blessed. The beatitudes seem to take man’s universal strengths and weaknesses and then turns them all on their head. So is the beatitudes a truth that Jesus used to bring comfort to those who are going through hard times? That God gives us strength through our weaknesses? Perhaps, but I get the impression that it is much more than that. I get the impression that Jesus overhauled the whole system of strengths and weaknesses. It is not that God gives us strength through our weaknesses, though he does, but more that Jesus was saying that these things may not have to be weaknesses.
The general format of the beatitudes is: Blessed is he who is ........ for he will be ....... The thirsty will be quenched, the hungry will be full, the meek (humble) will reign, the mournful will be comforted. The word that need be mentioned is “will”. It is future tense, they will be ..... This is where the great impact of what Jesus was teaching hit me. The world turns and races after power and influence and happiness now and in this life. Jesus’ beatitudes overturns this train of thought and even the rest of His sermon on the mount continues his argument against this popular way of living life.
Don’t be like the Pharisees who like to flaunt their religiousity in front of men to gain appraisal and prestige, though they are the teachers of the law, do what they say yet not what they do Jesus taught, for they have received their reward in full, but by doing it in secret, by doing it in humility and out of love, not for selfish motivation to gain today, you are consolidating your rewards to come. They receive all the reward they are going to get now as they flaunt it in front of men, but will receive nothing in the long run. We in society every once in a while stumble onto this principle - which is better, one hundred dollars in one day, or one penny every day for a year? In the long run, the penny a day is more financially beneficial. But even then do we understand the heart of this principle?
Jesus said do not store up treasures here on earth, but store your treasures up in heaven, for there eternity reigns, while here on earth everything is eventually decayed and destroyed. Where your treasure is, there is your heart. Your heart follows where you put your time and effort into, and your treasure can be anything; anything of which you hold dear and of import.
In compiling these teachings, I see one common thread, one important lesson being taught. Whatever the circumstances you find yourself in, whether poor, starving, in mourning, persecuted, no matter what the world finds weak, in any action taken, whether people know or not, of all priorities that can be set; the most beneficial, the wisest, though it be for the long run, is to work, trust, and live for eternity.
What good is it, my brothers and my sisters, if we were to gain the whole world through our pride, influence and stature, if we are just to loose it all when we reach eternity. Time has no effect on eternity. Should we not then live for eternity? Is it not wiser to suffer if need calls of it today so as to be rich in God’s sight for all time? To be blessed by God when the time comes that all of time stops.
Jared Williams
The beatitudes have long amazed and befuddled those who have come upon Jesus’ words. If you are poor, in pain, suffering, starving, lacking water, meek, humble, and persecuted, it is you who are blessed. The beatitudes seem to take man’s universal strengths and weaknesses and then turns them all on their head. So is the beatitudes a truth that Jesus used to bring comfort to those who are going through hard times? That God gives us strength through our weaknesses? Perhaps, but I get the impression that it is much more than that. I get the impression that Jesus overhauled the whole system of strengths and weaknesses. It is not that God gives us strength through our weaknesses, though he does, but more that Jesus was saying that these things may not have to be weaknesses.
The general format of the beatitudes is: Blessed is he who is ........ for he will be ....... The thirsty will be quenched, the hungry will be full, the meek (humble) will reign, the mournful will be comforted. The word that need be mentioned is “will”. It is future tense, they will be ..... This is where the great impact of what Jesus was teaching hit me. The world turns and races after power and influence and happiness now and in this life. Jesus’ beatitudes overturns this train of thought and even the rest of His sermon on the mount continues his argument against this popular way of living life.
Don’t be like the Pharisees who like to flaunt their religiousity in front of men to gain appraisal and prestige, though they are the teachers of the law, do what they say yet not what they do Jesus taught, for they have received their reward in full, but by doing it in secret, by doing it in humility and out of love, not for selfish motivation to gain today, you are consolidating your rewards to come. They receive all the reward they are going to get now as they flaunt it in front of men, but will receive nothing in the long run. We in society every once in a while stumble onto this principle - which is better, one hundred dollars in one day, or one penny every day for a year? In the long run, the penny a day is more financially beneficial. But even then do we understand the heart of this principle?
Jesus said do not store up treasures here on earth, but store your treasures up in heaven, for there eternity reigns, while here on earth everything is eventually decayed and destroyed. Where your treasure is, there is your heart. Your heart follows where you put your time and effort into, and your treasure can be anything; anything of which you hold dear and of import.
In compiling these teachings, I see one common thread, one important lesson being taught. Whatever the circumstances you find yourself in, whether poor, starving, in mourning, persecuted, no matter what the world finds weak, in any action taken, whether people know or not, of all priorities that can be set; the most beneficial, the wisest, though it be for the long run, is to work, trust, and live for eternity.
What good is it, my brothers and my sisters, if we were to gain the whole world through our pride, influence and stature, if we are just to loose it all when we reach eternity. Time has no effect on eternity. Should we not then live for eternity? Is it not wiser to suffer if need calls of it today so as to be rich in God’s sight for all time? To be blessed by God when the time comes that all of time stops.
Jared Williams
