A Study in Thanksgiving

For this year's Thanksgiving post, I decided to not only meditate on what I'm particularly thankful for this year and share the list, but to also incorporate poignant Scripture verses speaking of these blessings.

So, in no particular order, this year I am especially thankful for:

Family

This year, a number of factors are combining to make this holiday an especially joyous celebration of getting to share time together.  From family we don't normally get to see on the holiday to those we simply haven't had much time with lately, the mere chance to spend a few days together is a tremendous blessing.

God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.  This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
- Ephesians 1:5 NLT

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
- Psalm 133:1 NASB

Education

With each additional year of college, I grow more and more grateful that I live in a time and place in which I have access to gaining that knowledge for myself - and I'm not restricted by the fact that I'm a woman or middle-class.  Enlarging my brain gives me such joy, and I realize that there are scores of people around the globe whose mental potential far exceeds mine, yet they don't live in an area where education is available to them.  The level of access to education we have in the U.S. is rarer than we think.

An intelligent heart acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
- Proverbs 18:15 ESV

Take hold of instruction; do not let go;
Guard her, for she is your life.
- Proverbs 4:13 NASB

As for these four youths, God gave them learning and skill in all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
- Daniel 1:17 ESV

Studying Scripture

Along those same lines but even more so, we live in an extremely unique time and place in which we can study Scripture.  We have the ability to read and understand it in our own language.  A Bible is extremely inexpensive - most of us have more than one, as opposed to one per church (if that).  There are a multitude of other resources we have access to that can deepen our understanding - commentaries, concordances, lexicons, books, downloadable sermons, etc.  And we don't have to hide our Bibles for fear of being arrested, beaten, raped, tortured, and executed.  We have the rare freedom and ability to pursue the rich depths of God's Word!

(If you're interested in helping your brothers and sisters in Christ in other countries who do not have access to Bibles, I recommend Wycliffe Bible Translators and The Voice of the Martyrs)

Open my eyes, that I may behold
Wondrous things out of your law.
- Psalm 119:18 ESV

Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words."
- Daniel 10:12 NASB

God's Accessibility

God has always been everywhere, all the time...but that doesn't mean people had access to Him anytime they wanted.  God would meet them at specific places like the Tabernacle and Temple, and even after the Holy Sprit came to indwell believers, some sects still taught that you had to go to a specific building or perform a certain ritual in order to talk with God.  But because of the Holy Spirit inside us, we can silently talk with God at any time of day, in any location, no matter what we're doing.  God even gives us access to Him while we're scrubbing toilets!  What amazes me so much about this is that is how incredibly deeply He loves us - that He doesn't demand physical, ritualistic demonstrations of reverence.  As Holy as He is, he has every right to demand ritualistic cleansing, religious garments, etc. in order to speak with Him - yet He doesn't.  We truly serve an astounding God.

Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?
- 1 Corinthians 6:19a NLT

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 15:13 NASB

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 ESV

Purpose

I talk about this one throughout the year, I know. :-)  It just never ceases to thrill me that God created each and every one of us for a reason - that there's a specific destiny He has planned out for each of us, tasks to accomplish that have eternal significance.  So many people struggle with the question, "Why am I here?"  But if we ask God that question, as he slowly reveals the answer to us over time, we can trust that His plan is a thrilling adventure!

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
- Ephesians 2:10 NASB

also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.
- Ephesians 1:11-12 NASB

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
- Romans 8:28 NASB

Now you tell me - what are you especially grateful for this year?  Can you think of any Bible verses related to that blessing?  Leave a comment below (or if you're reading this via e-mail, click the post title to take you to the blog in order to do so).

Image Credit: "The First Thanksgiving" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, reproduction, from the United States Library of Congress.  Wikipedia.  Public Domain in the United States.

Intensifying Blatancy - Matthew 21:12-22

Scripture Passage #1

 

12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

 

13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER'; but you are making it a ROBBERS' DEN."

 

14 And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.

 

15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became indignant

 

16 and said to Him, "Do you hear what these children are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF'?"

 

17 And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

 

The Basics of What's Going On Here

 

This is yet another of my favorite "scenes" in the Bible involving Jesus. :-)  I adore the idea of a warrior God defending the weak from evil, and that is certainly exhibited here.  But another thing I love about this event is that each Gospel seems to emphasize a different aspect of what happened, each on teaching us something unique.  Let's dive in and see what Matthew saw as important in this story.

 

In case you're not very familiar with this story, here's a quick run-down of what was going on:

• There were very specific rules in the Jewish temple about what kind of money you could use and what quality of animals were okay for sacrifices.  So, moneychangers and animal salesmen set up shop there...which seems very useful at first glance.  But the problem was that they were not there just to help people worship God and make a living - they were swindling the worshipers.
• The scribes and priests were totally okay with this system - they worked there, too!  It fit perfectly with the hypocritical, hyper-legalistic system they had set up to turn themselves into the "holy" elite.  Someone declaring this temple system to be morally wrong directly threatened them.

So, Jesus came in and caused quite the stink about this situation.  He acted as a one-man riot, overturning tables, scattering money everywhere, letting the animals free, and chasing the swindlers out with a whip.  Imagine if someone came running into your church and threw to contents of the offering bucket all over the floor, overturned the communion stands, and grabbed each of the pastoral staff by their shirt collars and drug them outside...  It was a radical act!

 

This wasn't just wanton destruction...it was an act of cleansing His temple through destruction.  In the Old Testament, when Israel turned to evil and its worship became mere lip-service, God orchestrated events so His temple would be literally turned to rubble - it's the same principle as here.  The message is that hypocrisy reaching all the way to God's own house cannot be tolerated.

 

But Jesus's act was far more than a message of disapproval - Christ also restored the Temple to its true purpose, and that's what I see as Matthew's main emphasis.  Just look at the contrast - the rich and powerful (who were evil in this case) were chased out, and God welcomed the lowest of society (children and the sick, who were viewed as sinful).  The Temple was the place for Jews to commune with God Himself - and they had the opportunity to do that.

 

Deity, Prophecy, and Other Gospels

 

I think the fact that the sick came to Christ for healing after He did this whole rampage-through-the-Temple thing shows that they genuinely believed He was Messiah.  If they didn't, they surely would have thought that He had no right to do what He just did.  I mean, if I had terminal cancer and knew of a renowned prophet who could miraculously heal, and he did some radical religious act like we see in this passage, I wouldn't go to him for healing unless I fully believed he had the God-given authority to do what he did!

 

Even if my assumptions on that are wrong, however, the children were definitely identifying Him as Messiah!  In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God promised King David that his descendants would ultimately reign forever.  At first, this was an unbroken chain of his son, grandson, great-grandson, etc. serving as king of Israel, and part of the prophecy speaks to that; but in the eternal sense, Christ's throne would reign forever, and Christ was a biological descendant of David (see the genealogy in Matthew 1).  So, a common term referring to the Messiah in Jesus's day was "Son of David."

 

So, the Pharisees noticed that the children were identifying Jesus as the Messiah, and tried to call Him out on not correcting them.  He responded, "Yes," and further declared His deity by quoting another Scripture about God - Psalm 8:2!  Since He intended to let them crucify Him shortly after this, He could be very overt in declaring Himself to be both Messiah and God.

 

If you want to look into the Scriptures Christ referenced in verse 13 of today's passage, they are Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11 (the entirety of Jeremiah 7 is related, so you  may want to check that out if you have time).

 

If you're interested in the other gospels' take on this story:

Mark 11:15-18 - emphasizing how much His radical act caused the priests and scribes to hate Him

Luke 19:45-48 - emphasizing how people responded to His authority

John 2:13-22 (actually an earlier event - Jesus did this twice) - emphasizing His Deity and authority even more

 

Scripture Passage #2

 

18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

 

19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you."  And at once the fig tree withered.

 

20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all at once?"

 

21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will happen.

 

22 "And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

 

The Fig Tree

 

Jesus cleansing the Temple started off what will be a long section in Matthew in which Jesus confronted the hypocrisy of the Jewish religious leaders (scribes, priests, teachers, Pharisees, Sadducees...), and that is also happening here, and will continue into our next couple of posts, as well.

 

The point with this fig tree is that it was not bearing fruit.  This tree is symbolic of those who see themselves as religious (Pharisees, etc.) but are actually not bearing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23:

• love
• joy
• peace
• patience
• kindness
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness
• self-control

These are not things we achieve in order to become godly; rather, they are the inherent result of allowing God to live in our hearts.  Over time, He changes us to become more like Him, so a genuine believer will show at least some progress in some of these areas over time.  But the religious hypocrites Jesus was referring to didn't, because they didn't truly have relationships with God - they only wanted to serve themselves.

 

So when Jesus curses the fig tree, He is declaring that His favor and His blessing are not with people like that.

 

Learn how to ask Jesus to become your Lord and Savior here.

 

How the Disciples Listened

 

But the disciples weren't really listening to what Jesus had to say - they were more shocked by the fact that Jesus was able to make the fig tree wither instantly with a word (even though they had already seen Him perform so many miracles, many more impressive than this!).  It turned out fine, because He was able to turn their poor listening into a teaching opportunity on a different topic, but still! :-)

 

Branching off of that a bit, we should be sure that we value churches and Bible teachers and such not for how good of speakers they are, or how flashy their sermon PowerPoint notes are, or whatever - we should be paying attention to the content of the message.

 

Miracles and Prayer

 

We've talked about the issues Jesus refers to here in His teaching on miracles and prayer recently, so I'll be relatively brief.

 

Sometimes, there is cause for a miracle, whether to demonstrate to a person that the person performing the miracle really is from the True God, or simply to bless people (e.g. healing).  God still works miracles today, and he promises that He will work through Christians to bring them about elsewhere, too (e.g. Mark 16:17-18, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11).  However, it's not as if a person who God has gifted to perform miracles is a magician for life or something - God will work miracles through that person for His purposes, in His timing, when He chooses to.

 

But the larger point here is faith - God works through us (in any capacity) when we believe that He can do it, and are willing to act on that belief.

 

Bear in mind, too, that verse 22 isn't just a blanket promise that you can force God to give you anything you want - as always, context is critical.  In this case, the context is things for His kingdom, according to His will.  If we feel in our hearts that God is prompting us to do something for His kingdom, and our own abilities don't cut it, if we ask Him to give us the ability, He will.  Definitely.

 

Question for you: When has God asked you to "step out in faith" and do something that seemed impossible, and He provided for your situation?

Any questions, or comments about something you see in our passages?

Leave a comment below. :-)





Identity Mix-Up - Matthew 10:40-11:6

Vicarious Blessing

 

40 "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

 

41 "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.

 

42 "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."

 

Let's have some fun looking at translation of words first. :-) "Receive" carries a few different connotations in English; what exactly does it mean in this passage? Well, actually, two different Greek words, with two different meanings, are translated as "receive(s)" in these three verses. Where the word "receives" appears, that's the Greek word dechomai, which means receive in the sense of welcome and accept. But when the word "receive" appears, that's lambano, which is receiving in the sense of being given something. So, for clarity, we can read verses 40-41 as:

 

He who accepts/welcomes you receives Me, and he who accepts/welcomes Me receives Him who sent Me. He who accepts/welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet shall be given a prophet's reward; and he who accepts/welcomes a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall be given a righteous man's reward.

 

Now, who is the one who sent Jesus? That's referring to God the Father. This may seem odd to we Christians today who (kind of) understand the concept of the Trinity, but remember - this occurred very early in Jesus's ministry, and there was definitely some confussion in the disciples' minds about who precisely the Messiah was. So Jesus is saying, "Look, dudes - they'll be welcoming God!" So, whoever welcomes us and what we have to say is welcoming God. Just think what a great honor that is that God is with us to that extent!

 

Another thing to clear up is what the term "in the name of" means. In the American Church at least, we tend to end all our prayers with "In Jesus's Name, Amen," as if they're magic words (this practice is pulled from John 14:13-14, but for many has become ritual and lost its original intent). But what it actually means is, "as so-and-so would do it," or "in the capacity of." So, for example, "in Jesus's Name" actually means "as Jesus would do." Sooooo, what I think this passage is saying is that even if we're not super-spiritual (like prophets or "the righteous"), if we accept what they have to say and make an effort to act as they do, God will reward us! Genuine effort is more important to God than success itself.

 

Verse 42 seems simple at first glance, but there are a few beautiful encouragements for us in it: (1) It shows us that being a disciple is not about big stuff like going on overseas missions trips - living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is about showing love through small acts in the day-to-day...simple things, like giving water to the thirsty; (2) it demonstrates that he loves even the lowliest of us (in Jewish society at the time, children were essentially the lowest class); and (3) He will reward us for the little things, too! Again, it's not about competing with each other to be the best Christian - it's about doing whatever God has put before *us*. All in all, this simple verse is a concise love letter!

 

With this in mind now, let's remember the context from our last study post: He just talked about a bunch of terrifying consequences of following Him, including your own family turning you in for execution, and spoke that famous line, "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." Today's passage balances out the scariness with love and rewards, and elaborates on that line.

 

For more on why God rewards us and what these rewards look like, check out Matthew 25:31-46 and our past study on heavenly crowns.

 

Everyone Doubts, and How to Answer Them

 

1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.

 

2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples

 

3 and said to Him, "Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?"

 

4 Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see:

 

5 the BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.

 

6 "And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me."



 

Okay, so Jesus sends all the disciples out to "do ministry" one their own, without Him to guide their every step. They're probably feeling nervous and scared, and what is Jesus doing meanwhile? He's spreading the Gospel in the disciples' hometowns. While they're feeling like they're all alone, Jesus is ministering to their loved ones! This is a beautiful example of how when we feel like God's not near, He is still working "backstage," taking care of us in ways we're not even aware of.

Next, in verses 2-3, we see that John the Baptist is having some doubts as to whether or not Jesus is really the Messiah. Consider for a moment that because of the prophecies about his own birth and how much devoted his mother was to God, he was surely raised with the knowledge that his younger cousin was the Messiah. At the very least, it is extremely clear that his experience with baptizing Jesus left him fully convinced that Jesus was Messiah. Yet, because of his terrible circumstances (being locked up in a dungeon), he doubted. This is a wonderful example for us that even THE John the Baptist had a lapse in his faith, so the "valleys" in our own spiritual walks are to be expected. These valleys are indeed brutal, but it's certainly not like God gets angry at us for having them! As we're about to see...

 

In verses 4-5, Jesus doesn't get at all angry with John for his doubts! Neither does He simply say, "Of course I am," or "Yep." What does He do? He demonstrates it - that is, He purposefully chooses an answer that will directly address John's doubts. God *always* seeks restoration of our relationship with Him.

 

Here's another thing interesting about His answer: He references some fulfilled prophecies as a practical proof, but His primary focus is on how He's been working in people's lives. We can apply this, too... While there is definitely a time and place for arguing academically for the existence and supremacy of the Christian God (scientifically, historically, philosophically, etc. - evidenced by the success of such books as The Case for Christ), what works best most often seems to be simply telling people what God has done for you - i.e. how His love has changed you.

 

Unfortunately, verse 6 doesn't translate into English well at all. But when we look into the Greek, we see that it clearly ties back to the point of John doubting. The word for offense here is skandalizo, which basically refers to making you stumble (not in the sense of falling into sin, but of tripping you up in your faith) or fall away. So, this verse can kind of be phrased as, "And blessed is he who does not <doubt, and so stumble in his faith or even fall away [like John the Baptist is doubting]>." Obviously, life is far better when we never allow our faith to be shaken (easier said than done, of course).

 

Questions for You

 

Verses 40-42 have a lot of things going on in them; do you see another angle I missed?

 

When in your life had you had doubts and/or gone through valleys? What soothed your doubts or pulled you out of the valleys?

 

Giving Credit Where It's Due

 

Image Number One: Crown of Christian V (1671) kept at Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen, picture taken by Claus15. Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain. Used by permission.

 

Image Number Two: St. John the Baptist by Titian. Wikimedia Commons. {{PD-1923}} Public domain in the United States. {{PD-old-100}} Public domain in countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years, including the European Union.

Controversy Galore! - Matthew 7:1-11

So Judgy

1 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?

5 "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

This passage is quoted so often, even people who've never stepped foot in church in their life can quote it.  Indeed, it's a very important teaching: simply, don't judge others because we've all got faults.  Jesus certainly drove this message home to the crowds in John 8:1-11.

However, it is often misapplied.  Some people think that anytime you ever say anything bad about anyone, you're judging them.  This is certainly the case probably more than we like to admit, but one enormous contradiction to this view is present in Scripture: that of helping another believer by drawing them out of sin.

" Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted."

- Galatians 6:1

Here it is clear that if another believer (note that - another believer) is in sin (and that means unaware of the sin or actively living in the sin, not just struggling with it - see our entire study on Galatians 6:1 here for more on that and this entire topic), and you are right before God at the time, the correct thing to do is to lovingly point it out to them so they too can get right with God.

However, there's a certain protocol (again, see the Gal 6:1 post for more on this topic) to be followed in doing so, as we see in Matthew 18:15-17.  This isn't some free-for-all involving gossipping behind the persons' back.

But with all that said, the point still remains: we as believers are not to judge people.  That does not point anyone to God's love and forgiveness.

Easier said than done, yes. :-)

Pearls Before Swine

6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Now this is a verse with the potential to offend!  But, Romans 9:33 states that the Truth is offensive, so there you go. :-)

Understandably, there are many different views on this verse's meaning.  What I see is this: Don't waste your precious energy on people who won't appreciate it, so it won't do any good - you have limited time, so make it count!

How does this apply specifically in the context of the passage?  (1) Don't bother trying to reprove the "believers" who are willingly living in conscious sin - they already know what they're doing is wrong and don't care; (2) Don't try to reprove unbelievers - you need to bring them to Christ, not whitewash their behavior.  Fixing thier morals without them getting saved won't solve a thing; (3) Be aware that the hypocrites just referred to in the verse before will attack you and fight your ministry - when you try to bring people to repentance, they will push back.

Let's expand this concept by looking at Mark 6:11: "Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them."  Is this judging them?  No, it's leaving the judging to God.  Is it acting hatefully?  No, because your motivation is to stop wasting time pointlessly so you can move on to other people who need to hear about God and will be more receptive - and that is an act of love.  In this, whatever we feel God's purpose for us is, He intends us to be efficient.  (However, this does not mean to give up on people after one try or focus on quantity of quality...there's a balance.)

God is Not a Genie...You Don't Get Three Wishes

7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

9 "Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?

10 "Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"

People misapply this, too...sorry to be a kill-joy. :-)

This is not some blanket promise that God will give you every little thing you ever ask for (if you've known God for more than three seconds, you realized that long ago).  But He is in the business of bringing about what is best for you (see Romans 8:28).

We can always trust that God is doing what is best for us, even if it's not what we asked for - He knows better than us! :-)

What I think these verses are getting at is that if we seek God Himself, He will totally grant that request!  And, ultimately, God is the fulfillment of every yearning of our hearts.  So, let's seek Him today - let's ask Him to reveal Himself to us all the more and grant us more of His character!

See our study on James 1:5-11 for more on this topic.

Let's Make It a Discussion

Have other Christians judged you before, and how did this impact your view of the church?  How can we seek God today?  Anything else you'd like to ask, add, or comment on?

Magnifying the Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-12

1 When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him.

2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying,

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

4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when people insult you and persecuted you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Beatitudes and Blessings - General

This section of Scripture is often referred to as "The Beatitudes."  It's easy to brush the word off as merely another example of "Christianese," but it actually makes a lot of sense when you look into the etymology of the word - it simply comes from the Latin word for "blessedness."  I find this whole situation ironic, given that many people likewise gloss over this familiar passage, despite the spiritual gems just below the surface...

I also want to briefly clarify the meaning of "blessed" since it occurs so many times in this passage.  Some interpret it to mean phsyical rewards, like we see in the Old Testament when God gave his most faithful followers riches, security, and fame - but I adamently disagree that that's what "blessed" means here.  Not only are all the specific blessings listed in this passage spiritual in nature, but we see that elsewhere in the New Testament (for example, Mary in Luke 1:42 - her blessing was spiritual honor, yet she had to suffer much on the earth).  Besides, even within this passage alone (namely, verse 11), we see that we as Christians are not called to live comfy lives - remember, we are under the new covenant.

Specific Blessings

So what do these spiritual blessings look like?  Here are a few examples pulled exclusively from these Beatitudes:

Salvation (verses 3, 5, 7, 9, 10)

God's Peace (verse 4)

Righteousness (verse 6)

Closer Relationship with God (verse 8)

Great Honor in Heaven (verses 11-12)

(There is some overlap, of course; I just tried to focus on the primary blessing in each verse)

Going for a Stroll

Now that we've got the overview covered, let's cover each beatitude individually.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This is a basic salvation blessing.  To accept God's forgiveness, we first have to admit how very much we need it - we have to acknowledge how poor (in the sense of bad or lacking in worth) in spirit we are.  So, it's essentially:
Blessed are those who are open about their lack of holiness, because I grant them citizenship in My Father's heavenly kingdom.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
This can be taken two ways.  First, the most obvious, literal interpretation - Don't worry about it when your world falls apart, because I Myself will personally comfort you.
And second, consider it in the light of the first verse...as in,
Blessed are you when you mourn over your own sinful nature, beause I will comfort you by bestowing My righteousness upon you.

Blessed are the gentle [or meek], for they shall inherit the earth
The ultimate point of salvation is not a free ticket out of hell, but rather restoring us to being in God's image - restoring us to being just like Him.  Jesus was the ultimate example of being meek (meek doesn't mean beaten down and mousy, but rather purposefully keeping your own power, authority, prestige, etc. under complete control) - something that goes completely against human nature.  So, the affect that comes through salvation (the process of becoming like Christ) and the result of salvation (that is, salvation from sin and therefore residence in God's kingdom - a.k.a. the new earth) are wrapped up in this beatitude.  So:
Blessed are those who are meek like Christ, because they get to live with Him for eternity.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
This one's my favorite! :-)  It's saying that if you truly crave God's righteousness - if you yearn for it as much as you yearn for your daily sustenence of food and water - He will give it to you.  Remember when Solomon asked for God to grant him His wisdom, not riches or power, God gave it to him.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
This reminds me of the parable of the unforgiving servant.  The fact is, forgiving others is evidence that you truly have been changed by salvation; refusing (note - not struggling, but refusing) to forgive others is an act of open rebellion against God.  Therefore, by being willing to forgive others, you keep your heart in a state that is open to God's forgiveness - one that embraces love and admits your own faults.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Honestly, I don't think this has anything to do with making wordly peace, such as in politics and wars.  Rather, it refers to some sort of spiritual peacemaking - perhaps aiding reconciliation among quarelling believers, or sharing the Gospel with others (thus bringing them to peace with God).  If this is a correct interpretation, then this beatitude is saying that sons of God (Christians) will be peacemakers - it's an instruction to be peacemakers.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
We already discussed these a bit above - God gives us spiritual honor when we suffer persecution (also consider Philippians 1:29 and Revelation 2:10).
But I want to cover the first part in a bit more detail.  2 Timothy 3:12 tells us, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."  Again, wanting to become holy like God is the poing of salvation - so, all true Christians "desire to live godly" - so, all will be persecuted to some degree.  So, this beatitude is a reassurance - we will suffer for our faith, yes, but our salvation is totally worth it!  The oft-quoted Romans 8:18 tells us, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us."

What do you think?

Do you have a favorite beatitude?  Can you think of another angle on any of these that I missed?  Anything else you'd like to say or ask? :-)