Here's part two of three about the Beatitudes.  This part goes into four Beatitudes, so be ready to learn a lot!

   'Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.'

   I was really hung up on this one.  There just isn't a clear definition for meekness, and I just couldn't get a definition I liked from anyone.  I probably asked five people.  According to Martin Lloyd Jones, 'Meekness is essentially a true view of oneself, expressing itself in an attitude and conduct with respect to others.'  I really like what John Stott has to say too:

   "The person who is truly meek is one who is truly amazed that God and man can think well of him as well as they do and treat him as well as they do.  This makes him gentle, humble, sensitive, and patient in all his dealings with others.  The condition on which we enter our spiritual inheritance in Christ is not might, but meekness, for, everything is ours if we are Christ's."

I guess what he's saying here is that being meek is being humble and gentle in nature.  If we are meek, we have the power to do much more, but we keep it under control, allowing others to go before ourselves.  Now what's this whole deal about inheriting the earth?  When I was studying this, all I could think was 'Why would we want to inherit the earth?  What does it mean to 'inherit the earth'?'  In my search for answers, I found out that a lot of people had different suggestions, but no one really knew.  And I'll tell you straight out that I don't really know for sure, but I'll present a couple of ideas.  Some people gave suggestions of ruling the earth during the millennial reign.  Another person said that perhaps we are ruling the earth now.  By walking in God's presence, we have authority over the earth.  Someone else said that it will be the restoration of Creation.  Another source claimed that "the earth' is more like 'the Promised Land' and everything in it.  When the meek follow God, He brings them 'the desires of their heart.'  The meek then are the only rightful owners of things on this earth, and they are heirs of things yet to come.

   'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.'

   I know you're thinking, 'Hey!  Wait a second...didn't you just say not long ago that righteousness cannot be achieved?  And doesn't God's grace cover us so that we don't have to be righteous anymore?'  Yeah, you're right.  However, righteous acts are nothing, righteousness is everything.  Isaiah 64:6 says, 'All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.'  Our little good acts are like dirty rags to God, in fact, the correct translation is menstrual rags.  Ewww.  But I thought God liked it when we did good?  Well He does, but we have to do it for the right reasons.  Are you doing good stuff because you love God or are you doing for any other reason?  Personally, I don't wanna get God dirty by my sins.  As Christians, our lives should reflect God.  He made me white as snow; I don't wanna give any more muck to him and make Him look any filthier.  Who wants a dirty God?  Therefore, we need to train vigorously, until it hurts.  We need to enlist the best coach around (the Holy Spirit) because He can work out the details in our lives'the little things we're messing up, and we need to get a partner to push us, someone who's not afraid to ask about what kind of sins we're struggling with.  Let's not get God dirty.  Instead, let's imitate Christ and hunger for understanding God's Word.

   'Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.'

   I love mercy.  It's one of my favorite characteristics of God.  Mercy is not getting what we do deserve.  I don't think it's right to mention mercy without also mentioning grace, which is getting something we don't deserve.  We all deserve death, but God, in his mercy, saves us from that, and in His grace, gives life to those who accept Him.  Mercy also involves compassion for those in need, like in the story of the Good Samaritan.  His mercy and compassion gave relief, cured, healed, and helped the injured man.  John Stott says, 'Nothing proves more clearly our forgiveness than our own readiness to forgive.'  We can't receive God's mercy if we are not merciful.  Another example is God's mercy for the lost.  Jesus wept for Jerusalem in its misdirection.

   'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.'

   I want to see God.  I want to experience His magnificent presence.  Think about how incredible it will be when we get to see Him!  Exodus 33 and Daniel 10 tell of human encounters with God.  Moses wanted to see God's face, but God wouldn't allow it because the sight would cause Moses to die.  Can you imagine that?  Just being in God's presence caused Moses' face to radiate with God's glory that he had to wear a veil over his face, and Moses didn't even get to see God's face!  There were people with Daniel who didn't even see the vision of God, but were so overwhelmed by His presence that they fled in terror.  Daniel became weak and struggled to breathe.  It reminds me of a song Jennifer Knapp sings:

          As I open up my eyes to see You standing there
          Oh I can barely breathe, and I can hardly bear
          All the love that I feel for You inside
          I hope You feel it now somehow

Can you imagine seeing God in all his splendor and radiating with His love for you that you can barely breathe?  It excites me!  I want to give up all my junk just to see Him.  We first need to put aside all that distracts us, all that worries us, all that's taking up God's first place position.  We need to be pure in heart.  Soren Kierkengaard once said, 'Purity of heart is to will one thing.'  Our desire should be for good, not for evil.  Matthew 23:25-28 talks about how the Pharisees were hypocrites; their outward appearance seemed nice and clean, but their hearts were full of 'greed and self-indulgence.'  In Matthew 6, Jesus says, 'No one can serve two masters.'  To be pure in heart, we need to put God, and only God, first, letting Him rule within.  After all, our inner desires determine our outer behavior.