August 25, 2016

TRUE BLESSINGS

Matthew 5:3-12

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of 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 shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Encouraging Words

What a powerful view into the economy of our God. If I want to be viewed as a blessed person in this temporal world I would not pursue any of the following:

• being poor in spirit
• mourning
• meekness
• hunger and thirst for righteousness
• mercifulness applied to others
• persecution

But here, in the Beatitudes, our Lord clearly describes for us how we should love our lives in our day to day temporal world if we would like to receive the following rewards in our spiritual world, both today and when we enter into heaven:

• having the kingdom of heaven
• inheritance of the earth
• mercy
• seeing God
• becoming a child of God

According to how the world would have us live our lives, this is all backwards. The economy of the world tells me to put myself first, to make everything and everyone revolve around me, and then I will receive all of these rewards. And to top it off if I do live my life the way the world wants me to, I may have many things, but just in this world and not the world to come.

I am so thankful that every one of our liturgies in the Orthodox church includes the reading I singing of these verses because I always need to be reminded to live my life God's way and not the world's way. To live my life with God as the center and with every other person around me as more important than me. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!