“For as he thinks
in his heart, so is he…”—Proverbs 23:7
Our attitudes shape our mind-set—our
focus. How we view certain things
affects every area of our life. Jesus
taught different attitudes than the religious leaders. We are able to see the marked contrast of attitudes between the world’s thinking
and our Lord’s viewpoint in Matthew 5 -7.
The word
"beatitude" comes from the Latin beatitudo, meaning
"blessedness." The phrase "blessed are" in each of the
beatitudes implies a current state of happiness or well-being—an
attitude, as well as a promised future reward.
The expression held powerful meaning of
"divine joy and perfect happiness" to the people of the day. In other words, Jesus was saying "divinely happy and fortunate
are" those who possess these inward qualities / attitudes.
Today we
will highlight the Be Attitudes in
Matthew 5:3 and 10
(v. 3) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven.”
Poor in
spirit / kingdom of heaven
(v. 10) “Blessed
are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against
you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be
exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets who were before you.”
Revile, persecute and all kinds of
evil / great reward in heaven
There are many forms of persecution. Having our
lives threatened because of our faith in Jesus is one way we can be persecuted,
but it is not the most damaging. History shows that the church has always
flourished under persecution with increased numbers and zeal. During intense,
life-threatening persecution, people's priorities get straightened out, and the
Lord assumes His rightful place. This always works for our good, regardless of
what our outward circumstances might be.
A far deadlier form of persecution is simply
people speaking evil of us or separating us from their company, as Jesus
mentioned in Matthew 5:11-12. It is
deadlier because it's more subtle. Many who would never directly deny the Lord
will fall into self-pity or strife because of someone's criticism. This will
render us just as ineffective as would a negative reaction to our lives being
threatened.
It helps to recognize that it is not us whom they
are persecuting, but rather Christ in us (Acts 9:4). We are actually becoming
partakers of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10) and will share His rewards (Romans
8:17-18, 2 Timothy 2:11-12, and Hebrews 11:26). With this in mind, we can
actually shout and leap for joy in persecution (Luke 6:22-23 and Acts 5:41).
These “be
attitudes” give us a clear picture of the true disciple of God.
Prayer—Father I repent for attitudes that do not reflect
You, and I ask You to refocus and reshape any attitude that is not aligned with
how You think, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
