Life is stressful! In the past few years, it seems like everyone I talk to is acutely aware of the toll that stress is taking on our minds, bodies, and spirits. At different points in time, the stressors of life may fluctuate, but there are always going to be challenges we need to confront. So recently I’ve started studying the word asking—what did Jesus say and do about stress? I’ve learned a lot from watching Him in the gospels, but I was particularly struck by Matthew 5:3-12, the Beatitudes. These instructions specifically answer many questions about stressful circumstances and how to move from stressing into our blessing. Jesus promises the believer that He will turn: our mourning into comfort (v. 4); a meek disposition into eternal inheritance (v. 5); our mercy to others into mercy we receive (v. 7); a peacemaker spirit into God’s sonship (v. 9); and persecution into praise in the kingdom of heaven (v. 10). It is both a present blessing and future eternal blessing that makes sense of our stressors. Jesus never said life would be easy (John 16:33) but He did model and explain a way to walk through the world where our circumstances don’t dictate our dispositions or even the outcomes of our lives.
By: Joy Howard
~ Christ Fellowship