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Matthew 5 ^1-10 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: ³ “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. ⁴ “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. ⁵ “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. ⁶ “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. ⁷ “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. ⁸ “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. ⁹ “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. ¹⁰ “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

This passage really flips this culture’s idea of what it means to be blessed or living your best life. The Message translation says Jesus takes his climbing companions on a hillside and shares with them the secrets to living a blessed life. The fact that it details that not everyone kept following him when he was leading them up a hill, goes to show that not everyone is willing to take the climb and listen to wisdom that challenges and stretches one beyond normal thinking. He pretty much tells the ones who want to listen, that this world’s system is not offering anyone a genuinely blessed life. Jesus is showing the climbing disciples, that according to the world’s standards, where everything is about ambition and external stuff – that’s not the real definition of blessed. In most cases we see today, this kind of driven life is the reason for a stressed life. So Jesus is telling the ones who will listen, a person who really has a blessed life is someone who’s more interested in working on their inner man and not the outward. At the end of Jesus speaking, He says there’s going to be a lot of persecution when you embark upon this kind of blessed life.

Because it collides with the cultures definition of hustle hard, no sleep,…work til you drop. Jesus presents to the ones who are able to embrace it,. a fresh concept of living from the inside out. I know, it’s in conflict with the world’s vision of blessed. Living the inside out way, you might find yourself not looking or feeling blessed sometimes, especially if you compare your life to others. That’s exactly how you know you’re not living a Jesus kind of blessed life when you are comparing your blessed life to someone else’s blessed life. In God’s Kingdom, your blessed life will be a different kind of blessed. It will be one where you have peace and hope and a clear conscience,…It’s one where you will be just fine with The Lord leading you, even if it’s a climb.

I encourage you to take some deep breaths and reset. Your life is really blessed. So I want you to just sit down and reflect on the ways The Lord has preserved your life and kept you in spite of what ‘s happening in the world. This is an awesome reminder for you today that Jesus said you’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope! Not because he wants you to be stressed or anxious but because,… when you get to the end of your rope- then and only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

Copyright 2020 Sherry Grant