December 1, 2020
It’s a new month - the last month of 2020. If you haven’t been here for a while, Welcome Back! If you are here for the first time - Welcome!
Matthew 5 is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. How could I possibly write a post giving this incredible discussion from Jesus anything more? It begins with what most of us have come to know as the Beatitudes - being blessed. It is my hope for you to open the invitation to all of God’s blessings.
Have you noticed how difficult it is to keep up with society? The culture of our society shifts constantly. Everyone has a different standard of living and they all have expectations. I have learned that expectations lead to disappointment. And all the thoughts and plans I had in my mind haven’t quite worked out the way I envisioned them.
Even so called Christians can lay out standards that at times can make me feel like I don’t fit in. Today we begin a new month, it’s the end of a year - the year 2020, which has been quite different from any other. The thing I have decided this year is that I cannot live up to anyone’s expectations or standards. This year had a lot of science opinions and political opinions which pushed and pulled us in all directions. If you didn’t follow one, you were unloving and uncaring. If you followed another, you weren’t patriotic. Today we read the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus lays out for me what I needed - the standard of living.
Being a Christian certainly seems like we are swimming up streaming, wouldn’t you agree? It’s not easy when compared to society’s standards. I want to share something about myself - I’m a fighter. I don’t give up easily. When I believe in something, I will fight for it. And this Christian life is worth fighting for.
Do you struggle with your faith walk? Are some things in life just too difficult to understand and you question God as to why it has to happen? When you seek God through these trials in life, He will help you along the way, but yet, life here on earth seems to push and pull us in all directions. The beatitudes are an invitation to be included. If you’ve ever felt like you just don’t fit in to the people around you, just remember how Jesus selected His disciples - they were misfits - looking for hope - looking for someone to follow, to lead them. And just like them, when we find Jesus as the measuring stick of life, we will be blessed beyond measure.
There’s a book a few of us have read and I highly recommend you add it to your library, perhaps ask for it as a gift, “The Good and Beautiful Life”, by James Bryan Smith. In this book James writes, “The people mentioned in the Beatitudes are not blessed because they are in these conditions. They are blessed because of Jesus. They have hope because the kingdom is available to even them. Their character traits are not highly valued by the world… the Beatitudes “are characteristics that won’t lead to power, prestige, or possessions.” Jesus opens up the Sermon on the Mount with the radical teaching that these people are invited to the great banquet.
People are not blessed merely because they are poor in spirit. The condition is not important. What is important is that these people are not cut off from God. Their life situation does not prevent them from entering the kingdom. Most of Jesus’ teaching went against the grain of dominant narratives. The Beatitudes are not different. The life circumstances Jesus called blessed are commonly thought to be anything but that. And the Beatitudes are radical because they teach that these people have the same access to the kingdom as the rich and happy.
In the Beatitudes Jesus invites the down and out to life in fellowship with Him! He invites them to the kingdom of God. Jesus is the kingdom in the flesh. He is Immanuel, God with us. He does not introduce people to a concept or a religious idea, he invites them into a vibrant, interactive relationship with himself. And Jesus embodies and fulfills the Beatitudes. He was the poor in spirit, meek and pure in heart. He hungered for righteousness, mourned for Jerusalem and wept for Lazarus. And he was persecuted.”
Ladies, those who are in Christ become living beatitudes, walking and talking blessings to the world. Immediately after the Beatitudes, Jesus says, “You are salt of the earth and light to the world”. Being salt adds life to the earth - this life we are living can be tasteless. If we lose our saltiness, we are of no further value in spreading the good news. We are not here just to season or preserve the world from decay, but we are here to stimulate growth. We as Christians are invited to bring life, the life of Christ to the world. God with us - Immanuel. We are gifted with the light of Christ and what He gives us allows us to be that ever burning light for others to see.
Blessings to you all to carry Jesus into this dark and barren world - your world, your home, your life.
Lisa