“Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.’” (Matthew 5:12a).
Our religion is a difficult thing. After all, we live in a world where we are trying to chose the easiest way, and then God Himself – who created this world – comes along and says, the way we need ot do things is to take up a Cross and follow Him…
God did not tell us that we should sit back and relax. He did not say that things would be easy. He did not tell us to chose the easy way and make sure that we are happy.
Instead, He said, that if we wished to follow Him then we must follow Him even unto death… For through death, we will be reborn to eternal life. And that death is not just a physical death – but a death to the self as well…
And there are great rewards for being called “Blessed” of God…
“Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain, and when He sat down his disciples came to Him. And He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth...Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.’” (Matthew 5:1-12a).
Look at those words that he chose to use… “rejoice” – rejoice if your life is difficult and terrible and from the perspective of the world it is a wasted, rotten and useless life. REJOICE, for you are blessed “for your reward is great in heaven.”
And I have been reflecting on that today as I have been thinking about what it means to be Blessed. For my life is not poor or downtrodden or meek. I am strong and rich and confident in the world. When I speak people listen. I have food and shelter for myself, and my children and I have been given gifts such as nobody could ever know. And still, my spirit is longing for things that are not mine to long for, which in fact I should be consumed with the desire to please God.
And how easy it is for my false sense of entitlement to prevail and for my feelings of pride to interfere with my purpose as a Child of God… And instead of looking at others and calling back to them and saying, watch out, be careful, make the next move with care, I am looking at myself and guarding my position and trying to get ahead and around the others.
And today, it occurs to me to stop and take a breath. For it seems to me that it is far too easy to push ahead with stuff, when what I am really being called to be is Blessed…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Comments