Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:
      "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
      Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
      Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
      Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
      Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
      Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
      Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'

   The Beatitudes.  That big bless'd paragraph of incomprehensible stuff that I just sort of skim over ever time I see it.  Yeah, yeah, the Beatitudes'whatever that means.  Do you do the same?  Recently, I went to retreat where we spent the weekend looking at the Beatitudes.  Some of them we went into more depth than others, but we touched on every one.

   First of all, what in the world is a beatitude?  And what exactly does it mean to be blessed?  I looked up beatitude to find that it means 'supreme blessedness or happiness' and blessed means 'bringing happiness, pleasure, or contentment' or 'to confer well-being or prosperity on.'

   Oooh'contentment: 'happiness with one's situation in life; satisfaction.'  Isn't that something we're all searching for?  In Philippians 4:13, Paul says, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.'  Did you know he was talking about contentment?  Many times we think of strength as a physical aspect, but here, Paul talks about mental strength'learning.  He learned how to be content.  I want to be content, instead of always wishing for things I don't have and taking for granted the things I do have.  I want an everlasting happiness, a joy that isn't governed by the everyday ups and downs in my life.

   I can find that joy in Christ, and He wants to bless us; He wants to make us happy.  We can also find contentment in being the people God called us to be.  So let's go be blessed!

   All the Beatitudes are pretty important, and we want to attain all of them, but the first one is a prerequisite for all the rest.

   "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

   Poor in spirit. . .what?  What does that mean?  We'll look in Luke 18:9-14 for an example:

   To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:  "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'  But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'  I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

   Who do you think was the poor in spirit here?  Yeah'the tax collector.  It wasn't about his many sins, it was how he came broken to God.  He admitted his sin.  Think for a moment about the ten commandments'how many of those have you actually kept?  I kinda look down as I say that because I feel so ashamed.  Problem is, we will never obtain righteousness by ourselves.  You'd have to be better than Mother Theresa or Billy Graham.  Back to the parable.  Unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector didn't achieve righteousness, he received righteousness.  We all need to come to God, broken before Him, realizing we aren't perfect, and ask Him to make us whole.  Our reward?  The Kingdom of Heaven.

   'Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.'

   When we think of mourning, we think of funerals.  We think of people giving us comfort even though they don't know what we need.  But what do we really need?  We need hope, and our hope should be in Christ because He will always be there tomorrow.  We shouldn't put our hope in earthly things because they are so temporary.  2 Corinthians 7:9-11 says, "Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.  For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.  At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter."

   We should be eager to learn about God and ask for salvation from Him because He will comfort us when we stop trying to comfort ourselves; when we admit the sinfulness in our own lives and in the world, God is ready to comfort us.

   Well, there are the first two Beatitudes, which will pave the way for the other six in the next two parts of this Beatitudes series.