The Beatitudes are a glimpse of the way Christ lived His life as a man. I believe that is the WAY that He would have us demonstrate our faith.
There is a building of spiritual traits, each one building upon the one before it. Let’s start with the first one and touch on each one.
“The poor in spirit” (devoid of spiritual arrogance AMP).
“Those that mourn” (over their sins and repent TPT)
“The meek” (gentle, claiming nothing to be yours TPT)
“Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Nourished by God’s goodness AMP)
“The merciful” (Demonstrating tender mercies TPT) “Pure in heart” (Moral courage, Godly character TPT)
“The peacemakers” (The makers and maintainers of peace AMP)
“The persecuted” (When your commitment to God provokes persecution MSG)
I cannot imagine that my commitment to God would be so strong as to provoke persecution if I were not a maker and maintainer of peace. Could I be a peacemaker without the moral courage and Godly character of the pure in heart? How could I be pure in heart without demonstrating tender mercies? Do you see where this is going? We need to begin at the beginning, being poor in spirit, devoid of spiritual arrogance, and grow from there. The reward of being persecuted for our righteousness (the Kingdom of Heaven), comes from being poor in spirit, mourning sin, being meek, hungering for His righteousness, being merciful, having a pure heart towards God, and being a maker and maintainer of peace.
I see Jesus in all of these. From being born in the poverty of becoming flesh, to suffering persecution and death. He lived this out for us to follow. What would happen if in our daily walk we would test our attitude by the Beatitudes?
By: Susan Kewin
~ Christ Fellowship