Day 36 | Blessedness Application

Read Matthew 5:1–12

We can partake in the blessedness of God when we take the time and effort to become more like Him. The Bible is clear that when we submit ourselves to God and do as He does, we can participate in the fullness of Him.

Outside of His resurrection, one of the most incredible things Christ provided for us was the Sermon on the Mount, specifically, the Beatitudes. In the Beatitudes, we see the heart of God spoken by Jesus. We see with total clarity precisely what God desires from Himself and us! God fully embodies each of these blessings in The Beatitudes.

We should understand that without God, we cannot even begin to become holy, and this should drive us to mourn the state of our souls and ask for forgiveness. Then, we should be gentle with others because God was first gentle with us when He forgave us of our sins and humbled us. This begins the process of developing a hunger for righteousness in us, which means we live in accordance with what God has laid out in the Bible as right living.

Righteousness leads us to be merciful toward others because God was first merciful with us. Mercy leads us to have a pure heart that is undivided from the Kingdom of God. This leads us to be peacemakers, which means we love people so much that we will lovingly tell them when they have left the path of righteousness and we are willing to walk with them for a period toward righteousness.

All these things will lead us to be persecuted in the name of Jesus. Jesus wished to elevate this final Beatitude by expanding on it in a way He didn’t do with the other seven. Persecution by Jesus’ enemies was one of the most significant marks on a believer and it will continue to be a theme throughout Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus also went beyond the formula of “Blessed are…” to say, “Be glad and rejoice.” He gave special hope and encouragement to those whose righteousness is of such tenacity and brilliance that the enemies of God are moved to eliminate it from this world.

Pray for 10 minutes