Blessedness

The Beatitudes--Matthew 5:1-12

Today in my Bible reading, I read Matthew 5. I have a Greek/Hebrew Study Bible and the notes about the beatitudes really touched my heart.

The word "blessed" means "fully satisfied". In other words, we will be fully satisfied as we progress and grow in our Christian life. The beatitudes are a progression of our walk with God.

Blessed are..

vs. 3--"The poor in Spirit"--we realize that we are helpless, not able to do anything for ourselves. We must realize that we are nothing without God and He is our only help and the only way of salvation.

vs.4--"They that mourn"--we must be sorrowful about our sins and the sin around us--no making excuses, treating sin lightly.

vs.5--"The meek"--we must be willing to see ourselves as we really are--sinners saved by God's grace who can do nothing without Him.

vs.6--"They that do hunger and thirst after righteousness"--(can mean "the hungering ones")--we need to realize that we need constant nourishment from God's Word and long to do what is right--It just struck me that I often focus on what food I am going to eat next, but often don't spend as much time feeding my spirit God's Word

vs.7--"The merciful"--we need to care about others; make others' heartaches our own

vs.8--"The pure in heart"--we need to be constantly searching our hearts and confessing our sins to Him, also we need to keep our heats free of evil thoughts

vs.9--"The peacemakers"--we need to have the peaces of God in our lives so that our lives bring peace to those around us.--Even in trials we need to have a peace about us that causes others to see that God is helping us through.

vs. 10-12--"They which are persecuted for righteousness sake..."--we can rejoice when others persecute us, they persecuted many before us and with God on our side, who can stand against us?

As we grow in our Christian walk, we will become more fully satisfied. In each verse, there is also a promise from God. As we do our part, He has promised to do His!