WEEK TWO: WHAT MAKES HEAVEN HAPPY?

How do you act or react when the pressure is on? What is your response when you get hurt? What do you do when things are not going as you think they should or when things seem unfair?

We live in a world where fairness seems to have been thrown out the window, while hatred, violence, rage, and fear seem to dominate our headlines. What seems right to us is often scrutinized and even called wrong, or worse, evil. And with all of this going on around us, it is difficult to not want to push back. It is hard to maintain our composure and keep our faith when we are being so unjustly treated.

Jesus was living in a culture much like the one we find ourselves in today. He was teaching to people who were tired, broken, and overwhelmed. They were living under the authority of a hostile nation. They were being mistreated by their own religious leaders. They were probably, like many of us, overwhelmed. But Jesus didn’t teach about their circumstances. He didn’t teach of a kingdom that he would take over by force. He taught about being citizens of a different kind of kingdom.

In Matthew chapter 5, we have the section of his sermon we know as the Beatitudes. In this section, Jesus taught things that were counter to the abusive kingdom these people found themselves living in. Instead of war and power, retaliation and revenge, Jesus taught a different kind of attitude for living. He talked about the poor in spirit, those who mourn, meekness, the merciful, the peacemakers, the pure in heart, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. All of these seemed counter to the world they lived in, but Jesus said those who lived that way were “blessed.”

But his kingdom lifestyle doesn’t come easily. It is built on the inside first. It is built by putting in the hard work to be filled with the Spirit of God. It is built by understanding that the Spirit-filled life isn’t always comfortable, but it is the blessed life that Jesus promised in Matthew 5.

So, when you’re pressed and squeezed, what comes out of you? Is it frustration, fear, or faith? Is it criticism and pride, or compassion and peace?  It may feel a little like losing right now, but what we lose for Christ is nothing compared to what we gain.