Blessed



Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, 

Mat 5:3  Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 5:4  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. 

Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. 

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. 

Mat 5:7  Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 

Mat 5:8  Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 

Mat 5:9  Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the 

	kingdom of heaven. 

Mat 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. 

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted 

	they the prophets which were before you. 


	When the word "blessing" is spoken it often tends to ignite excitement and 

motivation for a dance and a song- "We're blessed in the city.  We're blessed in the field. 

We're blessed when we come and when we go." We are given instant access to all the 

blessings of Abraham when we come into Christ and it's time to rejoice, the "blessed" lady 

has sung and the victory's won. Emotions kick in at this juncture and a prolonged time of 

unmitigated celebration is in order as praise and thanksgiving is given for the great 

provision from above. 

	Upon reading Jesus' perspective on what being blessed entails, though, there is a 

realization that His blessings go way beyond the provision of material things alone. Also, it 

appears that there are conditions that go along with being blessed and these conditions may 

not be exactly number one on the want-to-experience or to-do list. If there is a phone in 

your home and it hasn't been blocked from receiving calls of solicitation, there is a certainty 

that at some time the call has or will come informing you of the great prizes you have won-

possibly a trip, a watch, a car, etc. The best of these calls will indeed spark some great 

excitement as the thought of getting something for free causes you to begin seeing yourself 

sitting on the beach, adorned with the watch, or cruising in the car. There will be a 

prolonged conversation as all the "blessings" are given highlight and you begin to feel that it 

would be really rather foolish to turn any of this down. You are given frequent opportunities 

to say "yes" to the glory of these "prizes" until, caught up in the positive rise to their intent 

you are presented with the real reason for the call, the conditions for all these wonderful 

"blessings". These conditions, though, after the great building up of the rewards seem to be 

so incredibly small in comparison to the conditions, that consent appears to be the only 

logical progression from that point. While some of these calls can really bring a wonderful 

provision of "blessing" to you, depending upon your circumstances of the moment, there is a 

great probability that if giving in to them becomes a pattern, these apparent "blessings" will 

become a terrible curse as they begin to really take more than they give. At any rate, there 

will definitely be a lesson learned that any time the reward is presented first and built up to 

great heights, a condition is yet to come that will qualify you for the reception of this 

wonderful prize. 

	Jesus' approach to presenting blessings, though, seems to be a bit backward from 

what might be learned in a sales school. It's very hard to imagine any salesman first pointing 

out the cost and the sacrifice before mentioning the attributes of the product. But Jesus 

begins each "blessing" presentation here with an up-front statement of what it will take to 

obtain that blessing. Each listed blessing comes only after the condition is stated. Because of 


this placing the doing before the getting, though, it would almost appear that in order to get 

these blessings, all you have to do is give your life to: being poor in spirit, mourning, being 

meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, having a pure heart, and being 

persecuted for righteousness' sake. All you have to do is become all these things and, 

shazaam, you get all these blessings. 

	While it may appear to be a matter of earning these things by doing those things, I 

believe Jesus is not really talking about something that is consciously done in order to get. I 

believe He is talking about a state of "being" that is already existing in a person as a result of 

who they are or who they have become in their character and in their lifestyle. This is just a 

list of what will be observed in the life of one who has a single purpose in living a life of 

worship and desire to: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good 

works and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Mat 5:16) As Jesus becomes the focus of 

our passion, we take on His nature and His form of response in every situation, which can only 

result in the blessing from heaven. Our perspective on what this blessing is also becomes 

transformed as it is always related to our relationship to our Lord and His kingdom, not just our 

consumption of "things". As circumstances of life come upon us, our continual choosing to focus 

on Him in them will inevitably be the fuel that our light of righteousness draws from to glorify 

our Father, even in a time of apparent persecution and failure. Our continual abiding in Him 

will cause us to meet the conditions every time and never want for the blessings that are always 

an enhanced experience of His presence. 

	There is a life of blessing waiting for us in a pursuit of His presence that will bring 

provision to every aspect of life- spiritual, mental, material, physical, emotional, etc. In Him we 

will become everything we need to be to meet any condition that arises, and our Father will be 

glorified in the light we thus emit. Rejoicing and praise, singing and dancing will continually 

occupy our mouths and our countenance as we are always gratified with the reward that never 

fails to bring us ultimate pleasure and satisfaction, His favorable presence. 
  


3/9/04