Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This verse along with many of the Beatitudes were at one time very difficult concepts for me to understand.
What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
Is it to feel down and depressed? No.
Is it to feel physically unhealthy? No.
Is it to feel insignificant or without value?
Again, no.
To be poor in spirit is realize that you are spiritually bankrupt, without any spiritual value. That you are sinful and rebellious and utterly without any moral virtues adequate to commend yourself to God. You are completely and totally broken.
It is a response to the Holy Spirit working in our hearts.
But in this place of utter brokenness we must beg for anything of the spirit because we know that we have nothing to offer and that there is no point in trying to offer anything.
This is when God does some of the greatest works in our lives because we are relying completely and solely on God for everything.
This is an absolute prerequisite to inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:4
“Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.”
The word for “mourn” used here is an intense mourning. It comes from us realizing the immense toll sin has taken on the world and our lives. Before sin, humans (Adam and Eve) lived in harmony with God, but after they chose to sin, humans were naturally opposed to God, it is not in our nature to follow God, it takes effort and determination to follow God. We have to choose to do so multiple times each day.
I don’t know the average or if there even is one, but I know that I personally don’t choose to follow God 100% everyday, or any day. Some days are better and some are worse
When the realization of the overall impact that sin had had on my life hit me, I began to mourn and grieve the ways that I had sinned against my Lord and Savior.
God allows this grief into our lives as a path, not as a destination.
A path that leads to eternal life with Him and a rich and fulfilling life here on earth.
I find that extremely comforting.
Matthew 5:5
“Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth”
As I mentioned a few days ago, I used to really struggle with the beatitudes. This verse was one of the harder ones. I had always understood meekness to be the same as weakness. I now understand that they have completely different meanings. In a nutshell, weakness is lacking strength or fortitude, physical, mental, emotional, etc..
The English language doesn’t have a single word that has the same meaning as the original Greek word for meek. The English word meek is used but the meaning of the original word is more along the lines of power controlled through humility. You can have great strength and choose to be meek.
Being meek means to willing forego any of my rights and privileges to submit to and work under proper authority. This can only happen when we are confident that as believers, God always has our back, He is always looking out for our best interests, His plan is far better than any plan of ours.
The Bible tells us in last chapters of Revelation that the saints, the believers, will live and reign with Jesus during His 1000 year reign on this earth before this earth and heaven are destroyed and the new heaven and earth are created and we live with Jesus for all eternity.
This is our inheritance, be it old earth or new, we will live with Jesus forever.
Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.”
For the most part, I have always felt strongly about righteousness, justice, fairness. But my human view on those things is typically very skewed. Why? Because of self. No matter how hard we try to kill our flesh every day, it never fully dies this side of heaven. That’s why we will have to kill it again tomorrow and the next day and the next and so on.
What is being spoken of in this verse is the righteous of God. When we hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, we shall be filled.
The first three beatitudes lead us to the fourth. When we are poor in spirit, mourning over sin and living in true meekness, we come to a place where we are seeking the righteousness of God. We desire to be more like Jesus every day. We embrace the processes of sanctification and refinement in our lives and we long to see God’s righteousness promoted throughout the world.
And God will bless this desire by filling us with His righteousness which in turn leads us to desire even more of it.
Matthew 5:7
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
I have chewed on this one for two days now. Being merciful is an area that I need work in. Prayers in this area would be appreciated.
In David Guzik’s commentary, he lists off what it looks like to be merciful and I humbly and somewhat shamefully admit that I fall very short.
Someone who is merciful will show mercy to those who are weaker and poorer, will look for those who weep and mourn, will be forgiving of others and look to restore broken relationships, will be merciful of the character of others and choose to think the best of them whenever possible.
Someone who is merciful will not expect too much of others, but will be compassionate towards those who are outwardly sinful and will have a care for the souls of all men.
If you want mercy from others including God, you have to be merciful.
Heavenly Father, I ask for Your forgiveness. I have not been nearly as merciful to others as I should be, yet You have shown me great mercy. Help me to become more merciful.
I pray this in precious name of Jesus
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
The Greek word for pure which is used here is:
katharos
purified by fire
like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit
unstained with the guilt of anything
Fit for use
It goes beyond an outward purity of action or language. It refers more to a person’s heart. God makes us pure of heart through
Trials and testing, by pruning away the bad and the good to leave only the best. Unstained by any guilt because we know that God has forgiven us and made us fit for His use.
Through this process our relationship with God grows deeper and wider with every step. We see Him in every aspect of our lives. And He sees us.
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
While the term peacemaker can mean someone who solves disputes between two parties, the meaning here is to reconcile people to God.
Reconcile means to restore to friendship or harmony.
The order in which Jesus gave us the Beatitudes matters. They build upon each other. As we are broken in order for Him to rebuild us, we gain an intimate relationship with God. This level of relationship with the Father allows and compels us to tell others about God, to evangelize. This is how God uses us to reconcile others to Himself, to bring them back into friendship or harmony with Him. To walk in sin is to rebel against God, to be reconciled with God is to walk in harmony with God. We make peace between others and God because we have peace with God, we have been reconciled with Him and we know the joy of walking in harmony with Him.
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
As I have said, the Beatitudes build upon themselves. So now that we are stepping out to be peacemakers, reconciling people to God, we should expect some form of persecution. While persecution in the United States doesn’t look anything like persecution in much of the world, a Christian in the US can still lose family, friends, jobs, or their business. They can be ridiculed and belittled.
No matter how mild or extreme the persecution we face may be, we are still called to be a light in the darkness, to preach the gospel and make disciples of all nations. These are commands directly from Jesus Himself. We are also told to love or enemies and to not repay evil for evil but we are to repay evil with good. So when you are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, remember how Jesus treated the people who were actively pounding spikes through His body as they spit in His face.
He prayed that God the Father would forgive them.
The reward of the kingdom of heaven far outweighs any pain or humiliation we could ever endure in this world.
Matthew 5:11-12
“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.”
This concludes the beatitudes.
To be reviled is to suffer verbal abuse
Persecute means to drive away, to harass, trouble or molest in any way
In the previous devotional, I gave examples of persecution that we may face as followers of Jesus.
This verse reiterates the persecution aspect while adding in to be reviled.
Scripture tells us that unbelievers do not understand the things that believers understand. Corinthians 2:14, “But the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned”
And as believers, we are called to be different from unbelievers
Many people react poorly to things they do not understand or that are different. Usually out of fear.
If we are truly and rightly reflecting the image of Jesus through our lives, we should not be surprised when we are verbally attacked or driven away by unbelievers; when they speak evil of us.
This is how unbelievers treated the prophets. And how they treated Jesus.
It sucks, but this is one way that we know that we are doing our job properly. And because of that, we should rejoice. Jesus will reward us greatly when we get to heaven.