Who should we consider to be the one blessed or favored by the Lord?
- The poor in spirit
- The mourner
- The meek
- The one who hungers and thirsts for righteousness
- The merciful one
- The one who is pure in heart
- The one who makes peace
- The one who is persecuted for being in the right
These are the ones to whom God grants his favor.
How are we going about trying to receive favor from God or people?
- Through being strong
- Being wealthy
- Being connected with important people
- Having nice things
- By being beautiful
- By doing something to put others in your debt
How else? What would you include?
Maybe life isn’t all it seems and maybe what is truly a blessing isn’t what comes most naturally to us. If we were really honest there are probably things on this list we really wouldn’t want but it isn’t about what we wants…rather…it is about what God wants.
This is what it means to be a disciple – to learn to see things from God’s perspective. To truly value what God values. To bless who and what God blesses. To receive blessing where and when it is least expected.
This is how the kingdom works and we, as disciples, are a part of it. What a blessing! This is what makes Christianity so special, it isn’t about being a certain class or rank. These things are available to all.
What if we blessed others on the same scale and based on the same criteria God uses? How would our lives change?
3 Responses
“This is what it means to be a disciple – to learn to see things from God’s perspective. To truly value what God values. To bless who and what God blesses. To receive blessing where and when it is least expected.”
In other words, be an imitator of God, right? Be perfect as God is perfect. Be holy, as God is holy.
That is exactly what the sermon on the mount allows us to do – listen to the heart of God to live accordingly. Yes!
Sad and troubling how the conservative evangelical churches now engage in revisionist readings of the warnings of James to the rich. I can remember a time when these churches, especially the small town and rural Christians, took these verses to be very explicit, to not be explained away. But being used and abused has become price “worth paying” for the power to create a theocracy, or a system as close as possible to it.