“For as he thinks
in his heart, so is he…”—Proverbs 23:7
Our attitudes shape our mind-set—our focus. How we view certain things affects every area
of our life. Jesus taught different
attitudes than the religious leaders. We
are able to see the marked contrast of attitudes
between the world’s thinking and our Lord’s viewpoint in Matthew 5 -7.
The word
"beatitude" comes from the Latin beatitudo, meaning
"blessedness." The phrase "blessed are" in each of the
beatitudes implies a current state of happiness or well-being—an
attitude, as well as a promised future reward.
The expression held powerful meaning of
"divine joy and perfect happiness" to the people of the day. In other words, Jesus was saying
"divinely happy and fortunate are" those who possess these inward
qualities / attitudes.
Today we
will highlight the Be Attitudes in
Matthew 5:3, 4, 5 and 10
(v. 3) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.”
Poor in
spirit / kingdom of heaven
The word “poor” is speaking of being inferior, inadequate, or lacking, such
as when we speak of poor attendance or poor health. Jesus was telling those who recognized their
spiritual inadequacies to be happy because help had come. They could receive
new spirits (2 Corinthians 5:17) by letting the kingdom of God come within them
(Luke 17:21 and Romans 14:17).
(v. 4) “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall
be comforted.”
Mourn /
comforted
Jesus
could have been referring to those who mourn because of their problems. Isaiah 61:1-3 definitely states that the
Christ would comfort those who mourn (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). He could have also been identifying the
repentant person, as in 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 and James 4:9. Or He could have been speaking to "all
that mourn" (Isaiah 61:2), which would include both of these groups.
(v. 5) “Blessed are the meek, for they
shall inherit the earth.”
Meek / inherit the earth
The ancient
meaning of "meek," which was dominant during the time of the King
James translation, was "kind or gentle." It was not a term of
weakness, as we can see in Matthew 11:29 where Jesus said He was meek. Jesus had all power, but He would not use that
power to promote Himself. So meekness
includes humility, submission, kindness, and gentleness. The Apostle Paul wrote about Jesus saying, And
being found in appearance as a man, He humbled
Himself and became obedient to the
point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
(v. 10) “Blessed
are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against
you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.”
Revile, persecute and all kinds of
evil / great reward in heaven
Persecution is an inevitable part of the Christian
life (John 15:18-20 and Philippians 1:29-30). The only Christians who don't
suffer persecution are those who aren't living godly lives (2 Timothy 3:12).
Persecution is from Satan and is designed to uproot God's Word in our lives (Mark
4:16-17) by taking our eyes off of Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-3) and, therefore,
making us fall into strife or despondency (James 3:16).
There are many forms of persecution. One, of the more deadly forms of persecution,
is people speaking evil of us or separating us from their company, as Jesus
mentioned in Matthew 5:11-12. It is
deadlier because it's more subtle. Many
who would never directly deny the Lord will fall into self-pity or strife
because of someone's criticism. This will render us just as ineffective as
would a negative reaction to our lives being threatened.
It helps to recognize that it is not us whom they
are persecuting, but rather Christ in us (Acts 9:4). We are actually becoming
partakers of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10) and will share His rewards (Romans
8:17-18, 2 Timothy 2:11-12, and Hebrews 11:26). With this in mind, we can
actually shout and leap for joy in persecution (Luke 6:22-23 and Acts 5:41).
These “be
attitudes” give us a clear picture of the true disciple of God.
Prayer—Father I repent for attitudes that do not reflect
You, and I ask You to refocus and reshape any attitude that is not aligned with
how You think, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
