“And he opened his mouth and taught them saying; blessed are the…”
Matthew 5
Jesus starts with a benediction, which would ordinarily come at the end of a message; you are supposed to close with a benediction, a blessing. Something occurred to me when I thought about this; nothing very complicated, but still profound in a simple way. It is a truth that is all over the bible and something that we all know, but dare not say, as if we think it is too good to be true, or perhaps if we say it out loud it will vanish like a mirage or float away like smoke. The simple life-changing truth is this:
God wants to bless you.
That’s it. Not very profound? Maybe. I think that it’s huge. I also think that most of us do not believe it. Why? Because it makes us sound selfish, or greedy, or shallow, and who wants to be that? But I think we have a distorted view of blessedness because we interpret the concept with our modern American minds; we assume blessed means rich and happy, or some approximation of that. We reduce it to some version of the false prosperity gospel that is so pervasive all over the world, a teaching that truly is selfish and shallow.
Being happy is not the same as being blessed. Being blessed can certainly include happiness but to conflate the two is to confuse the fruit for the tree. Blessed is the tree, happiness is a fruit; or, to extend the metaphor, happiness is a tree, blessedis the forest. Happy is temporary, blessedis permanent. Happy is subjective, blessed is objective. Happy is what you feel, blessed is what you are.
The word that our Lord uses here is makarios; the Greeks used it to describe the gods, they also used it to describe Cyprus, an island that was so well situated with climate and natural resources that it needed nothing, it did not need trade, it was self-contained, it was favored. Again, this is not about health and wealth or even about spiritual ecstasy; it is about a sense of well-being, in fact, the word bless means ‘to speak well of’. It is about being grounded in right relationship with God and with others.
All of us are always working toward our own well-being, obviously, but you need to remember that God is also working toward your well-being, your blessedness, and He knows far better than we do what that means. “…God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called…” all things? How can that be? If you were to remove the back of an old watch or an antique clock you would find a bunch of cogs and wheels all turning in different directions; how can they all be accomplishing the same thing? but in the end, they are all pulling toward one end; the perfect presentation of something as mysterious as time. God is engineering all of creation, every event of your life, for your blessing; no matter what it may look like on any given day. Remember that, as you begin your day tomorrow.
Our Father’s priority is the blessedness of His children. He is a good Father, He is perfect in all His ways, He is not me. The wisest Father on earth is only a pale reflection of the Father of us all.
Consider this: after He created man and woman, the very first thing that He did was to bless them (Genesis 1:28) so this is not a new idea, it has been His heart from the very beginning. He wants to bless you. When the bible speaks of Him lifting “up His countenance upon you”; it is speaking of His approval of you. When it speaks of His “face” shining upon you; it means that the King of the Universe is smiling at you.
I am not referring here to a rare and occasional moment of God’s generosity in your life, as if He were a tight-fisted miser and we must force His hand open to receive some trinket or favor, no, what I am speaking of is His disposition toward you. His constant favor, His extravagance, His eagerness to be generous to you. Job refers to his steps being “bathed in butter” when he felt the friendship of God; that, is what we are trying to capture. I wish that I could remember this every day.
Look for God’s blessing on you today, expect it, assume it every day. We were made to be thrilled, it’s ok to enjoy God, He enjoys you. This does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen to you, (that is the false prosperity gospel), it means that whatever the reasons may be, (remember the inner workings of the clock?) it is not because your Heavenly Father has withdrawn His favor from you. So, when you are having bad days, look to the Ancient of Days, and remember His smile. When you are discouraged by your own sinful heart, look to His great heart, and remember what it cost Him to get you.
“…as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He is gracious to us.”
Enjoy this life children, it only gets better from here; have fun, play and sing, your Father loves you. Be blessed, so that you may be a blessing to those around you.
© 2019 JD Green
“The hill of Zion yields, a thousand sacred sweets, before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets”