The Beatitudes
Jesus Christ gave us the Eight Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, recorded for all posterity in the Gospel of Matthew, the first Book of the New Testament of the Bible.They represent the characteristics and behaviors of those who belong to Jesus Christ, both now and in the world to come. The Beatitudes depict the character of the true people of God.
Each of the Beatitudes begins with the word blessed. What does it mean to be blessed? It means that the favor of God is upon us so that we experience God-like joy. Happiness depends upon circumstances but true joy is based upon a real relationship with the Lord.
Matthew 5:3, the first Beatitude, states, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
This first Beatitude tells us that we are to be poor in spirit. As we go through the activities of this week how should we exhibit that we are poor in spirit? We who are poor in spirit fully understand that we are totally dependent upon God for everything. When we received salvation we presented ourselves in an humble and repentant manner, realizing that we were sinners, broken and in need of salvation. Once saved, we consider the Lord in everything that we do. We obey the Scriptures and trust God for the outcome of good behavior and good decisions. We are to have no arrogance, no self-righteousness and no self-sufficiency. We realize that we have been bought with a price (1 Cor. 16:20) and should not be influenced by the things of this world. We further realize that although we live in this world, we are not of this world (John 17:14). Therefore, power and events on earth should not influence us or cause us to do things that would not be pleasing to God.
