How wonderful it is when God proclaims that you are blessed! Now, I could go on about how we so often fail to fully understand what God means when He uses the word "blessed", but that's not my point today.
When God says that you are blessed, essentially He is saying that you add something to His name. You are blessed when you are forgiven, because you add to God's name by proving that He is a forgiving God. In that same way, when you forgive others, you are blessed because you add to God's name by proving that He is a God of forgiveness, who extends that forgiveness through His people. So being blessed involves receiving from God's hand that which He joyfully pours out, but also grows to include how that is lived out in the context of your life.
So Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Now, I don't know how much time you have ever spent thinking about what that sentence means. On my part, I have actually given a considerable amount of time pondering the depths of this statement. It would seem to be a given that Jesus didn't just throw out words or thoughts for us to take them lightly. When Jesus spoke, it's time for us to sit up and listen, and to take what He says to heart. So, when Jesus says "Blessed are the peacemakers," it probably means we should pay some attention to what peacemakers are, and why Jesus proclaims that they are blessed.
In one sense, this statement seems pretty easy to grasp. Blessed are those who strive to end conflicts between people, and instead work toward peace. And yet, I would go so far as to suggest that this is something that we all can be active in every single day, and quite frequently during the day. We all face times of conflict. We find ourselves in disagreement with others often, sometimes over which lane of the road is rightfully ours, or who should go first as a stoplight, or who gets to decide what to eat for lunch or dinner, or even whether or not you should take that stack of post-it notes home from the office. They can be over big things or small, over very substantial things (where do we spend our money) or very small things (who gets the last chip in the bag). They can be over ideas or over material things. In short, disagreements (read, conflicts) arise daily.
When we find ourselves in those situations, we can either work toward peace, or we can work toward ends that aren't peaceful. If we fight only for our way, we toss aside peace because we want our way. And, yes, we do that. And I would have us think about how such an action serves to add to God's name as you engage in such behavior. Does it? Or does it instead take away from God's name? Are you being a blessing, or are you taking away blessing from God's name?
We'll keep on this topic of conflict, disagreement, and peace for a while. It strikes us every day, and so it's something we benefit by being aware of, and of learning what all God teaches us about it. So be ready for a fun series of blogs coming up!
When God says that you are blessed, essentially He is saying that you add something to His name. You are blessed when you are forgiven, because you add to God's name by proving that He is a forgiving God. In that same way, when you forgive others, you are blessed because you add to God's name by proving that He is a God of forgiveness, who extends that forgiveness through His people. So being blessed involves receiving from God's hand that which He joyfully pours out, but also grows to include how that is lived out in the context of your life.
So Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers." Now, I don't know how much time you have ever spent thinking about what that sentence means. On my part, I have actually given a considerable amount of time pondering the depths of this statement. It would seem to be a given that Jesus didn't just throw out words or thoughts for us to take them lightly. When Jesus spoke, it's time for us to sit up and listen, and to take what He says to heart. So, when Jesus says "Blessed are the peacemakers," it probably means we should pay some attention to what peacemakers are, and why Jesus proclaims that they are blessed.
In one sense, this statement seems pretty easy to grasp. Blessed are those who strive to end conflicts between people, and instead work toward peace. And yet, I would go so far as to suggest that this is something that we all can be active in every single day, and quite frequently during the day. We all face times of conflict. We find ourselves in disagreement with others often, sometimes over which lane of the road is rightfully ours, or who should go first as a stoplight, or who gets to decide what to eat for lunch or dinner, or even whether or not you should take that stack of post-it notes home from the office. They can be over big things or small, over very substantial things (where do we spend our money) or very small things (who gets the last chip in the bag). They can be over ideas or over material things. In short, disagreements (read, conflicts) arise daily.
When we find ourselves in those situations, we can either work toward peace, or we can work toward ends that aren't peaceful. If we fight only for our way, we toss aside peace because we want our way. And, yes, we do that. And I would have us think about how such an action serves to add to God's name as you engage in such behavior. Does it? Or does it instead take away from God's name? Are you being a blessing, or are you taking away blessing from God's name?
We'll keep on this topic of conflict, disagreement, and peace for a while. It strikes us every day, and so it's something we benefit by being aware of, and of learning what all God teaches us about it. So be ready for a fun series of blogs coming up!
No comments:
Post a Comment