Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
1 Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them saying:
3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Think about what makes you happy now and what made you happy when you were younger...
Today happiness means many things to many people...What makes man happy today varies a little bit from man to man, but when man is pressed there are things that today's man would say makes one happy...
Today and living on earth, there are certain things that I see that gets me to think about happiness...I think we need freedom to have happiness...Also, I think we need opportunity...If we have complete freedom and no opportunity, then things get problematic...If you have freedom and no opportunity for a job...Happiness quickly is dispensed...
Man searches for different things including financial wealth...This is one I think many would agree upon...I read once where happiness begins with financial success and security....There is some truth in this...If someone is constantly calling you or writing you about a past due loan or payment, you probably are not very happy...
To have no anxiety or worry, no problems with pain, also makes me happy...Just to be healthy, makes me happy...You want to be comfortable with no pain...And the more financial wealth you have, the more comfortable you think you are...To have a long life is another thing I think we would all agree upon, especially if we couple it with good health, this makes us happy...
The ability to love and love someone is another thing needed for happiness...If we are honest, we would say sex is needed for us to be happy...Having a loving partner and being intimate with them, makes one happy...
It seems that even more today, that people want a variety in many things, and we are not centrally focused, maybe because of this...We can jump from thing to thing...Cell phones, computers, technology, modern autos, all the different things you see around you...Just go in any large store and look at all the different stuff that is there...It seems we do not want to be bored, so we look for things to see and do...We are afraid of boredom, so we search for what we can do next...We think, variety is the spice of today's life...This variety, seems to make us somewhat happy...
In summing up today's happiness, we want to look good, be successful, be strong in health, a strong self image internally, do different things, have the things we want, and live a long healthy life...
Times have changed...The ancient ones spent time studying the soul and God...There are different ways to travel, so many things we can do, toys and stuff for every hour of our current day...Our times our much different than the were even fifty years ago, let alone five hundred, or two thousand years ago...If God had waited and sent Jesus today, would have we had time from Him...Even we all live to be one hundred and fifty healthy years, would we spend more time with the Father and Son... Do we have the time for Him?...
As was stated earlier, happiness today is different from the ancients happiness...Today's happiness are more focused on the material, and more internal and turned inward...We think of today's happiness, and we think of ourselves...Today's happiness just happens, it is short term...It is temporary...It is more a fast and quick outlook on one thing and then jumps to the next thing we see...We even teach this to our children and grandchildren, look in the closest and count their toys...
The above items might be some things that make us happy today, but this was not what the ancients believed...Eudaimonia was the ancient word for happy...Eu meant good or well being...Daimon meant spirit or little deity...So happiness meant blessed, in good spirit...Eudaimonia means lasting, blessed, morally good, learned and earned, a permanent thing, or something that lasts a lifetime...
Jesus teaches us the ancient meaning of happiness...That is eudaimonia and blessedness...Jesus is content with us when we are discontented with ourselves...Comfort is talked about by Jesus, but He turns comfort upside down...Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted...Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...Blessed are the those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled...Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God...
As for strong and successful, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth...Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy...Jesus shocks us when he says, not only when we are blessed when we have little money, but also desperate in heart, and poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of God...
Jesus may have been the most focused person who ever lived...He was certainly the most focused person, ever on God...His Father was the central part of His life...That is why His happiness is different from ours... He was not focused on earth on our flesh...He was focused on our soul and heaven...His happiness through blessedness is permanent, it lasts an eternal life...Jesus reminds us of two things...We need to think more externally...We need to think of the Father and think of our neighbor...We can have enemies, and we call them enemies, but we must love them...We should concentrate on the eternities...When we listen and are quiet, He leads us besides still waters...He is near...When we seek and mediate about Him in the Holy Spirit silence, He is there...When the Spirit of truth comes (in that silence), He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever He hears he will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come" (parentheses mine- John 16:12-13)....There is a happiness in that silence...
Jesus turns the successful, good looking, strong self image, and have material things on our heads and hearts...Our eternal happiness is dependent our relationship with the Father and Son...Jesus has the viewpoint of heaven and not earth...He is the Bible...He is heaven...Our thoughts and material things are temporary...When we have our temporary happiness's on earth in our success in material things and fame, we need to constantly be reminded of the permanent happiness in the kingdom of God...
Permanent happiness is Permanent Joy, Complete Joy...