I am still processing the Sermon on the Mount. I have gone through the 25 posts and edited them for clarity and to revisit them for myself. Now I want to look at the applications I should be making for myself.
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
There's that word again, blessed. We like to be blessed, because we like swag. I think some think of blessing as God's swag. The word that is translated as blessing can also be translated as happy. Not quite as good, but still nice. We like to be happy. Based on the context, I would like to change the word happy to satisfied. Not quite as good as blessed or happy, but who doesn't want to be satisfied? That wonderful feeling after Thanksgiving dinner, that lasts until halftime, when the urge for snacks starts to hit. But what if it is not about what we get, but who we are that Jesus is talking about? That changes things no matter how you interpret that word.
Job seemed to understand this, at least most of the time. Satan took away almost everything from him, and yet Job refused to curse God. In that moment, Job was blessed, he was happy, he was satisfied. His attitude was not a result of his possessions, but rather a result of his position before God. He was meek, he was humble. He did not complain about what he had before, or what others had, he was blessed.
Or David, when he lost his first son from Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan told him that the child would die, but David pleaded with the Lord, he fasted and went and lay with him through the night. Yet the child died. The servants were afraid to tell David of his son's death, for fear of how David would react. They thought he might harm himself. David saw the servants whispering, and he knew what had happened. He asked, and they told him the child was dead. So what does David do? He gets up, washes and anoints himself, changes clothes, and goes to the house of the Lord to worship. He knew he was blessed. Not the kind of blessing he was hoping for, yet blessed.
Here's my take away. Blessed (or happy or satisfied) is not something I get, it is something I am. If I am a child of God, I am blessed, and that is all that matters. Paul got this. Philippians 4:12,13 states, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." I believe so many read this text wrong. It is not saying that Christ will give me whatever I need, so I should go after great things, it is saying Christ has already given me a great thing, so I can endure whatever might be. There is a huge difference in those two ways of thinking. This is sometimes hard for me, because of being human and all. Just like the child in the AT&T commercial who was given a lollipop, and it all smiles until her brother gets a bigger and better lollipop. Then she determines that "That's not fair!"
Rather than be grateful, she suddenly loses her smile and feels cheated. Even the dad feels slighted, and sticks out his hand for a lollipop. It is only when she is given an equal lollipop to her brother's that the smile (blessedness, happiness, satisfaction) returns. So the blessedness was not a result of the giver, but of the gift. When my satisfaction is dependent on the gift, rather than the giver, will I ever truly be satisfied? There is always a bigger lollipop to be had.
So that is my take away. There is always a bigger lollipop to be had. So it is best for me not to get my happiness for lollipops, but rather to be grateful for whatever circumstance I am in. Paul knew what he was talking about, the question is do I understand what he was saying?
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