Heavenly Blessings

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. "Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. "Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. (Luk 6:20-23 ESV)

The blessings that Jesus pronounces here are contrary to the world’s view of blessings. The blessed are those who are: poor, hungry, weeping, and hated by others. These are not the things that naturally come to mind when we think of being blessed. Because these blessings go against the grain of our natural thought process, Christ gives us the reasons these are blessings….reasons that go much deeper than mere physical comfort.

• The poor have the kingdom of God.
  
• The hungry will be satisfied (filled to the point of being gorged).
  
• The weeping will laugh.
  
• Those who are hated are hated will have great reward in heaven.
  

Let’s ask ourselves some questions to see how we line up to the blessings of this passage:

Which do we desire more…

• God’s kingdom or riches in this world? (Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." (Mat 19:24 ESV))
  
• Being filled with the righteousness of God or with food? (But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Mat 6:33 ESV))
  
• God’s comfort and wiping away of our tears or laughing with the world? (He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. (Isa 25:8 ESV))
  
• God’s love towards us shown in our reward in Heaven or the world’s love towards us? (If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (Joh 15:19 ESV))
  

Let’s strive to set our lives in order according to Scripture and not according to what the world offers. The world and all that’s in it are passing away. Therefore let us lay hold of the eternal, rooted and built up in the things of God rather than temporal trifles.