Red Letters – Blessed – April 14

RED LETTERS
April 14, 2021

Blessed

Luke 6:24-26, ‘”But what sorrows await those of you who are rich in this life only, for you have already received all the comfort you’ll ever get. What sorrows await those of you who are content with yourselves, for hunger and emptiness will come to you. What sorrows await those of you who laugh now, having received all your joy in this life only, for grief and wailing will come to you. What sorrows await those of you who are always honored and lauded by others, for that’s how your forefathers treated every false prophet.”’

The culture at this time had fallen under a sullen falsehood that the God Almighty Who had been silent for generations was angry and full of retribution. He was a totalitarian ruler Who required servitude, and the penalty of disregard acted itself out in fear and guilt and condemnation. They could not see the love of a Father Who had grown genealogies to save mankind from themselves. They were little prepared to recognize, let alone acknowledge and accept, the Promise prophesied for centuries Who would redeem the broken and lost back to the Father. They related well to the words of John the Baptist, words of judgment and repentance, and blessing was a word that was foreign on their tongues.
“The word ‘blessed’ means ‘happy’ or ‘fortunate’. True blessedness is a deep sense of peace and joy in the knowledge that we are doing God’s will. The kind of blessedness that Jesus described is not primarily something we feel, but something we are. Any joy that comes as a result of God’s blessedness is a fruit of what He is doing in and through us.” (George W Knight, a Simplified Harmony of the Gospels)
But like all time, we find in life, there is an opposite to the reward of blessed behavior and choices, which is the cost and woe for contradiction of what we are called to do and be which is simply decent human beings with heartfelt emotions. It’s so simple: poor in spirit, mourners, gentle, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, hunger for what is right, willing to take a stand for beliefs. We are messy though and push the limits, and like toddlers, want what we want when we want; what’s mine is mine…what’s yours is…mine!
Jesus calls us ‘Blessed’, however, to just be a good person. And the reward for that behavior is an eternal, out-of-this-world package or gift that will never tarnish nor grow old.
I love this. “Poor in spirit—Jesus declared that the kingdom of Heaven was made up of the poor in spirit—those who are spiritually destitute and who desperately need the grace of God. This is the first quality a person must have to enter the kingdom of God.” (George W Knight, a Simplified Harmony of the Gospels)
I am destitute; I am desperate for the saving grace of God. Without Jesus and the price He paid to buy me back from the trenches of hell, I am hopeless and helpless. I am in need of a Savior, in need of grace.

I’ve been reading RED LETTERS all my life, but never with my heart.
During the month of April, let’s JOURNEY where JESUS journeyed,
and listen with our hearts to all He came to proclaim.