Any one who knows me at all knows that I get frustrated with what I call spiritual cliches. I realize that we all fall into that trap once in a while and cliches become cliches because they are so true, sound good, and sometimes sound more spiritual. It isn't sin but it is a pet peeve. lol. So I ran across a portion of scripture that is usually not taught in a total and never really gone into in depth. Well I can't get to deep here on a blog but I for my own want to know look a little deeper. The scripture I am referring to is the Beatitudes. Mathew 5:3-10. When I got to the first one it captured me. If you will I will break what little I have learned down.
3) Blessed are the poor in spirit..Poor in spirit =someone who realize their abject poverty and inability to save themselves. They realize without Jesus there is no hope. Because of this realization they cling to Jesus and in doing so inherit the Kingdom of God.
4)Blessed are they that mourn- It does not really refer to those who are mourning the dead. It does refer to those who mourn their sinfulness and in doing so turn to Jesus. One reference I ran into says it can also refer to those who are oppressed...The word says those shall be comforted. How? Because Jesus came and He is our comfort.
5) Blessed are the meek...powerless. Because in and of ourselves we are powerless to effect change. Only through Christ can we be made new and in His doing so the powerless will be given power to inherit the earth. Now one way to look at this is terra firma but what if we look at it this way.. Bless are the spiritually powerless because Jesus becomes your power when you make him Lord and He gives you power over your earth(body, mind, and spirit) restoring you to right standing with the Father.
6)Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.. I ran into one explanation that says this could be a metaphor for Jesus coming and being our spiritual feast. Without Jesus as Lord we are hungry and thirsty and He comes and breaks our 'fast' and fill us...thus They shall be filled.
7)Blessed are the merciful..To be honest I am still chewing on this one and will need to get back to it later.But in obvious choice. Give mercy -receive mercy.
8)Blessed are pure in heart-'spiritually cleansed'. How do we get that way..Through Jesus and His blood. Because Jesus came and paid the price we can be clean' pure of heart.' We through Jesus have been restored to relationship with God the Father.
9)Blessed are the peacemakers--does not refer to pacifism. It more closely refers being at Peace with God and man. When we are at peace with God our lives will exemplify God's attributes. We reflect more and more of Him as we open our hearts to the Peace giving power of the Holy Spirit with in us. Someone who walks in peace with the Father stands out and they will say..they must be a Christian(there goes a son of God).
10) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake- the word here more closely means hounded. Have your ever had to stand and say I can't do that it isn't right and been made fun of? It is a mild form of what this means and the word says yours is the kingdom of heaven.
This has been what I have been looking at this week. It all comes down to this- Jesus came to achieve all of this in our lives. We were poor in spirit, mourning, powerless, hungry, thirsty, without mercy,unclean of heart, at war within and without and separated from God. We had no hope within ourselves and because Jesus paid the price we now Spiritually rich, comforted, given power to overcome, filled, given mercy, cleansed, at peace with God . Blessed are we.. Happy, Joyful and Blessed. Thank you Jesus you have made life Beautiful..(Beatitudes/beautifier).. Jesus our Beautifier.
