The Beatitudes

by Jane Norris

Day 1: Uphill Climb
Read Matthew 5:1-2. Jesus climbs the hillside, away from the crowds gathering below, and his disciples follow. He leads them away from the crush of the world’s distractions and stresses -- and far above their comfort zone --and unrolls a blueprint for discipleship unlike anything they’ve heard before.

How hard is it for you to pull away from the responsibilities and delights of your world for devotions or Bible study? Are there routines you can establish in the new year to spend more time listening to the Word?

Read Matthew 5: 3-12 as if Jesus has pulled you aside personally to tell you something important. Try reading the passage aloud and truly hearing the words. Try physically stepping away from the place where you normally read your Bible. Do the words sound any different when you’ve stepped outside your routine?

Day 2: Emptied
Read Matthew 5:3, 4 and 5.

Many of the disciples, like the multitudes at the base of the mountain, must have thought Jesus would overthrow the unjust regime of the time and free his people in a more conventional way. To a disciple who had expected a freedom fighter, how confusing it must have been to hear that the kingdom belonged to the meek and the mourning.

But loss can be a more powerful spiritual catalyst than gain. Even the happiest relationships in our lives can consume our time and attention to the exclusion of everyone and everything else. The confidence that leads us to success in academics, athletics, arts and careers can shut us off to the indwelling of the Spirit if it slides into arrogance and entitlement.

Emptiness is never a void. Mourning does not require a death - - just a realization that no one other than God can take the best seat in your heart. Nor does meekness require weakness or wimpiness -- just a retreat from arrogance and selfishness and entitlement. In those moments in life when all the distractions of ego and self are gone, there’s more room for God. And true emptiness is a gift that came at a high price, because Jesus died to empty us of sin and condemnation.

Think back to a time in your life when you felt utterly empty. How close to God did you feel? Could the busyness of life be keeping you from God’s business? If you’ve lost what you’ve loved the most, could something even better lie ahead? Instead of feeling bereft by loss, can you picture emptiness as a clean slate, a chance to start over fresh?

Day 3: Filled
Read Matthew 5:6, 7 and 8.

Emptied of ego and attachments -- no longer working for bread that spoils (John 6:27) and finally hungry for Jesus, the bread of life (John 6:35) -- the disciple is satisfied, finds mercy and sees God. “You are my portion,” the psalmist says (Psalm 119:57).

Could you find the most nourishing things in life for yourself by seeking them first for others? Jesus told the disciples that whoever would be first among them must be a servant (Mark 10:43). Jesus asked his disciples to leave their families and their jobs behind. One by one, they did, to find a greater reward (Matthew 19:29).

The pure in heart will see wonders and find joy everywhere, because they’re looking for them (Philippians 4:8-9). People filled with mercy, confident that their own needs are met, will be able to recognize more of God’s mercies unfolding around them (Lamentations 3:22-24). If you look for the best in the people around you, does it become easier to see?

Read John 14: 25-27. Jesus promises that he does not give the way the world gives. In your own life, how has Jesus offered you something better than what you could find for yourself out in the world?

Day 4: Sent
Read Matthew 5:9.

People who help people patch up their differences with each other aren’t the only peacemakers. There also are peacemakers in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5: 16-21), who help others get their hearts right with God.

The dictionary says that “reconcile” means “to make friendly again or win over to a friendly attitude.” You can minister to a hungry and seeking world without saying a word. In what ways can others look at your attitudes and actions and see your relationship to God? Has seeing God’s work in someone else’s life ever deepened your own faith?

The disciples, as new creations, spend the rest of their lives helping to bring others’ hearts in line with God’s. They return to a world in which Jesus’ words were their only instructions.

They have important roles in the kingdom, all right, but not as conquering heroes with promotions and titles and bankrolls. They stumble, they fumble and sometimes they get it all wrong. But they go where they’re sent, and they have everything they need to handle what comes their way. When they learn to rely on God, they’re able to accomplish far more than they’d ever dreamed because they have everything they need, as Paul explains cheerfully from a prison cell (Philippians 4:13).

Do you feel confident that you will have everything you need, whatever happens? If not, what would change your mind or convince you?

Day 5: Down the Mountain
Read Matthew 5:10-12. When the disciples come back down the mountain, they’re still as human as we are. They sleep through perhaps the most pivotal prayer in history, run away when Jesus is arrested and never manage to stop squabbling with each other. But they find their way into their new roles in a world that would never be the same -- a world that saw them as criminals, troublemakers and freaks.

By stepping out of the boat, the disciples rock the boat, making powerful enemies among those whose careers depend upon the safety of the status quo. Jesus knows how tough life will be for them on their new paths, but he prays to his Father to save them from evil, not from opposition and strife (John 17: 14-15). In this world, they, and we, will have trouble.

Peter, a fisherman who never dreamed he’d be thrust into public speaking -- the same guy who denied knowing Jesus -- steps up and becomes a shepherd and leader, just as Jesus said he would (John 21:15-19). James, who once sought to be first among the disciples (Mark 10:37), is the first to be martyred (Acts 12:2).

When you face strife or stress, do you believe that God will give you what you need to get through it? Does knowing that you are in pretty special company make it easier to face the struggles in life?