A Blessed Message Part 5

A BLESSED MESSAGE PART 5

Matthew 5:1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

As we have said in the past few blogs, the word blessed is used 9 times in this passage. Blessed means to be well off or happy. When we hear well off, many times we think of worldly things such as money and possessions. But the well off being spoken of here is inwardly, it speaks of one’s senses or inward feelings.

In verse 8 we are told that the pure in heart are well off or happy and shall see God. How can we have a pure heart when scripture tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and that the imaginations of the heart are evil continually? There is only one way, that is thru Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Without that (salvation) you will not see God because you will not have a pure heart.

In verse 9 we are told that the peacemakers are happy or well off and will be called the children of God. We hear peacemakers and we think of law enforcement. If you were to ask many of them if they are happy in this time of unrest many would say no.

We need peacemakers. Just because one or two are bad we need not write the entire peace keeping force off as corrupt. But peacemakers aren’t all law enforcement, you and I need to be peacemakers in our churches, with our families and in our communities. We must not be a sower of discord. Then, if we are in Christ, we shall be called the children of God.

Verses 10 thru 12 carry the same theme, that if you are persecuted for righteousness sake or people say all manner of false accusations against you for Jesus sake, you shall be happy or well off. I know we all want to be persecuted and we all like to be lied about, not. But if we are we should be happy that we are worthy to be persecuted for our faith in Christ. For if we suffer persecution we are promised the kingdom of heaven and great will be your reward in heaven.

I hope that you may have found a blessing in these verses, called the Beatitudes that we have read and heard many times. If you follow Christ you are well off and should be happy even in bad situations.

Have a great day