In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus gave us a series of beatitudes. A beatitude is a pronouncement of blessing, a state of well-being for the faithful because of God’s divine favor. The beatitudes show us the spiritual path to true faith. A beatitude is basically a promised blessing from God for those who exude the character described. It’s up to each of us to work on obtaining the character necessary to cause God’s blessing to flow to us. God never breaks a promise but we must have goals and the willpower to reach them.
1. BLESSED are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,
A person who is poor in spirit is one who is humble. He realizes he is a sinner lost in his sin, admits it and has a repentant heart. The humble person understands life is meaningless apart from a right relationship with God. He knows he is weak and can do nothing himself but must rely on God’s mercy and grace unto eternal life. You cannot enter heaven without a humble, contrite heart.
2. BLESSED are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
By mournful Jesus is not talking about chronically unhappy people or those wallowing in self-pity. Jesus is talking about those people who are ashamed when they sin and genuinely grieve over their sinful state. Sin is no longer enjoyable and is now a source of misery in most cases. Ask God to forgive your sins daily and he will give you his peace.
3. BLESSED are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Meek as used here does not mean timid people. Jesus is referring to people who get along peaceably with everyone and who quietly live a life of devotion to God by following the commandments of God. While being poor in spirit involves being humble because of one’s self-assessment, being meek in this context means being humble because of our right relationship with God and other people. Being meek means having no personal agenda, seeking no personal gain, and living a life that emulates Jesus Christ. The meek simply place their total trust in the Lord. Those that live to please God will rule with Jesus when he sets up his millennial kingdom on the earth.
4. BLESSED are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
There is such a thing as an unquenchable thirst for God’s Word and the righteousness of God. There is such a thing as a hunger for the will of God in your life. Scripture says to seek God diligently and you will find him. If you hunger and thirst after God you will be satisfied.