Blessed are the Different

Luke 6:17-31

     When Jesus began preaching, his words were like nothing the world had ever heard before. They contradicted human reason then and continue to do so now. He, very purposefully, taught in a way that will make sense only if you spend time contemplating it. That is one thing I love about God; He makes me calm down and think. Life can be very fast paced and busy, but God wants us to spend time meditating on His word. If we read through scripture in a hurry, we might get bits and pieces, but the intricacies of Christ’s lessons won’t be fully realized. He taught that way on purpose.

     After Jesus met the crowd’s immediate need and “healed them all” (verse 19), he then began to heal their way of thinking. “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Before you run off and give away all your possessions and quit your job, that isn’t the type of poor he was talking about. Matthew 5:3 clarifies: “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” If we believe we are righteous without God’s help we lie to ourselves. If we believe we are so rich in our knowledge and understanding of God that we need no more, we starve our souls. However, when we admit that without God we are nothing, we open up ourselves for the opportunity of God pouring into our lives. When we admit we are spiritually poor, beggars for righteousness, we invite the compassion of God to be moved towards the restoration of our soul. That is what it means to hunger and thirst for righteousness. We want more. We can never be satisfied with what we have on this side of eternity. The blessing is the promise that one day we will be completely satisfied when we stand in God’s presence.

     “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.” I love this verse because of the layers of promise it entails. When we stand in eternity, all our troubles will be forgotten and wiped away. Every tear we had shed will be no more. Also, when we weep for our sin, we are led to repentance. That repentance takes us into the arms of forgiveness. Truly we are blessed even though, and because, we weep now. This promise directly ties with the next: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man…” When the world loves us, we need to examine our actions and words. You see, the world hates God. It hates everything that points out the evil they have embraced and the delusions they cling to. If you aren’t pointing it out, either by the way you live or the words you speak, you aren’t living as Christ did. When that is the case, the following “woes” apply. If we are rich in our own view of ourselves, we deceive ourselves into believing we don’t desperately need our Savior. If we believe we have enough ‘religion’, we will one day understand how destitute we are without the relationship. When all men sing your praises, your words must be void of the truth which convicts sin.

     Blessed are the different. To love the world is to hate God (James 4:4). To live as the world is to reject the life God calls us to live. He holds us to a higher standard. He calls us to be holy. He tells us to do what is contrary to our human nature. Loving our enemies doesn’t come naturally or easily. To hate is easy. To forgive requires us to lean on our Savior for strength. This world will never satisfy our souls because it is so badly broken and corrupted by sin. However, when we hold fast to God’s promises, we will be comforted. His promises never fail, even if we do.

(Written by Keegan Harkins.)