Blessed are the humble
Matt 5:5
New Revised Standard Version: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
The Message: You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.
“Stand up for yourself, no self-respecting person would let themselves get pushed around like that.” These are words our culture says again and again – words so ingrained into our heads they have become part of our way of being.
“You have to strive for more, you must get ahead. If you don’t look out for #1 (yourself) no one will.” These are also words our culture speaks again and again – also words so ingrained in us to that they have become part of our lives.
Jesus says, “Wait, what is the cost of all this sticking up for oneself, all this striving to get ahead, all this looking out for one’s own benefit?” We know well what the cost is – the discontent, the wanting, the getting but finding that when we have whatever we have been striving for there is no sense of fulfillment. We discover as did the author of Ecclesiastes (a book in the Old Testament) that all this striving, all this seeking, is like chasing after the wind.
Jesus later in the Sermon on the Mount (6:32b,33) said: “…indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, spend your life not chasing food and clothes and things – trust those to God, instead pursue what cannot be bought in a store or on-line: being part of the kingdom of God, being content to be a servant in God’s kingdom. We have all that we need to be servants of the Most High God, the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and the wealth of every mine. What greater calling is there than to be the humble servants of God and being invited to be stewards of God’s world.
PRAYER:
O Lord our God, teach is to put your kingdom first, and so discover the joy of being servants of you and your coming reign. These things we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.