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 of 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 the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. It’s funny how this works but I think it goes back to you reap what you sow. When you sow mercy you reap mercy. It’s odd that when you give of yourself and act in merciful kind ways how good you feel, it almost seems selfish in a way. You do good and you feel good, so you want to do more good things. If we could remember that then we would see more mercy come to us in times of need and want. A friend of mine and his wife are always giving of themselves and it seems that when something happens to them (negatively) there is always either someone there to help them or God delivers a miracle to them. That is what this is talking about they are merciful so in return they receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. What an amazing reward, to think that someone who is good enough and keeps themselves pure enough will see God. If only I could be good enough and keep my heart pure then I could see Him, but unfortunately, I am not good enough. Actually, none of us are. Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans that all have fallen short of the glory of God. That means that none of us can see Him on our own. But in the same letter, Paul tells us that we (Christians) have been buried with Him (Jesus) in baptism and raised in newness of life. We are now in Christ (for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God) because of this we can be that one who is pure of heart and get to see God. That is a wonderful thing.

Blessed are the peacemakers, not blessed are the backbiters who pretend to be at peace and then gossip about someone else. Any husband or wife can tell you there are times when you are right but you hold your tongue and let the other person unload their stress. Often times the other person ends up apologizing. When you are the stronger one (not letting people run over you) but strong enough to say I want peace and I will work towards that process then you will see things change. You will see how things seem to come together, the trick of it though is to have peace. You cannot be a peacemaker without having peace in the first place. You have to be at peace with God and yourself before you can help someone else or a situation become peaceful. The reason is because the person or the situation will stress you out. It will push you beyond what is comfortable, but if you have peace then you can overcome that and become a peacemaker.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. This one always makes me smile because a paraphrase is something like “happy are those who get beat up for liking good”. That’s right if you follow Christ then there will be times when someone attacks you for it. Jesus Himself said it “they will hate you because they hate Me” (paraphrase) it might not seem fair to your right now, but think about Jesus on the cross was that fair? It was not fair, but He gave Himself for you, maybe in you devoting your life to Him someone who picked on you and made fun of you will come to Him later on. We don’t know what will be the outcome of our life but we do know how He told us to live it. It is not an easy life but by His strength we can.

Just a thought,

Mike