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What Does it Mean to be Blessed & Happy?
by Daniel Wyles Matthew 5 (5:1) And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: (5:2) And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, (5:3) Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (5:4) Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (5:5) Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. (5:6) Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (5:7) Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. (5:8) Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. (5:9) Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. (5:10) Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (5:11) Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. (5:12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. We often use the term God Bless You when someone sneezes as both a testimony to the individual of our faith in God and to show our concern that they recover quickly from any sickness they may have. It is a wonderful thing and we should all practice it. However, just like everything else we do as Christians, it is subject to become something that we do just out of duty or obligation. If we take but just a movement to examine and reflect on biblically based traditions we discover a world of richness and beauty that we never even imagined was there. In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus turned the religious thinking of the day on its ear in twelve verses Christ identifies nine different groups of people that were blessed but these were not those that the Jews of Christ day or many "prosperity preachers" would identify today as being blessed. Just like today most folks associated material wealth with the blessing of God and the elimination of this wealth as God's judgment upon sin. This was a tradition that had went back for generations. Even Job's friends accused him of wrongdoing when they saw Job's life come apart at the seams Job 4:7 records Eliphaz's rebuke of Job Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? This judgment was untrue; and while many today suffer because of sin, lack of suffering and abundance of material wealth is not necessary to be blessed as the Bible defines it. In fact, the groups Jesus called blessed were poor, mourning, and persecuted or what we today would call "losers". What made them blessed? The key is found in what Christ meant when He said blessed. The Greek word for blessed in Matthew 5 is" makarios" (Strongs G3107) meaning happy. Due to the external situation of the crowd we know that Christ is here speaking of not a material or circumstantial happiness but rather an internal happiness that is not dependent upon the outside world. God alone can make man truly happy. Christ tell us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the Kingdom of God. This was what these people were doing on the mountainside that day. They had put aside worldly cares and desires and had come seeking a deep and abiding happiness from God and as they did so Christ looked over the crowd and pronounced them blessed. They might not have looked like it, thought it, or even at that time felt like it but they were blessed. Friend, How is it with you today? Are you truly blessed according to the Bible? Do you have a deep and abiding happiness in the depths of your soul? Only God can give you that and it ONLY comes through a relationship with Jesus Christ. My friend, if you are lost and undone, you have no lasting happiness, joy, or peace and you are not blessed; but you can be. If you hear a still, small, voice saying "I truly want to bless you" then I pray cry out to Him today not some formula or catechism but just call on Him from an honest and sincere heart asking him to bless you with salvation while He is dealing please don't push Him away and then you can begin a new life - one that is truly blessed and happy Saved at 8 and surrendered to the call to preach at the age of 20 I have devoted my life to making Biblical truths relevant to the lives of those in the pews. This article can be freely distributed in any form so long as it is not altered in any way and credit is given to the author Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |