Blessed!
What does it mean to you to live the good life?
Many of our answers would include security – financially, in our relationships, and in feeling safe in our homes and communities. Some us would include a high level of autonomy. We like to call our own shots and live our lives our way.
Jesus flips this kind of thinking on its head in the first four of the Beatitudes from Matthew 5. The Message states them this way, “3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
5 “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.
6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.”
To live the good life spiritually, we must follow God, not our culturally sanctioned human desires. We must dismiss our ideas of influence, power, and self determination in favour of God’s loving actions on our behalf.