The BE-attitude

I've always liked the thought of hanging on every word of Jesus. As a little one in Sunday School class, I would imagine myself dressed like the people on the flannel-graph board, sitting at Jesus' feet, eating the bread (skipping the icky fish) that was passed around the crowd and being forever changed by hearing the actual words come out of his phyiscal, actual, human mouth. My heart would skip a bit in my daydream when his eyes would actually fall on mine and I would know that he saw me. That's why the beatitudes in Matthew 5 have always been one of my favorite passages. Yet, I hate to admit it, I was never exactly certain what Jesus was saying.

The Beatitudes always seemed a bit abstract to me. "Pure in heart", "hunger and thirst after righteousness", "poor in spirit", what did these mean? As I've aged (and hopefully become more wise) I've developed some ideas about what these abstract terms mean. But nothing has helped more than reading about them in The Message. So I wondered if everyone had read them there. I think you should so I put a link here.

They are a list of ways of being. To be. That is the task. Be- a verb meaning, To exist in actuality; have life or reality. (Dictionary.com) The first person singular being "am". As in God's name. We are made in God's image. Creatures that are, just as God is. We are called to be like Him. We are called to BE. To live in each moment. To exist in actuality- not some fantasy world. And actuality can be messy and painful. Yet Christ promises blessings if we approach that actuality with the right way of being- the right attitude.

So when we come to that painful end of our rope, Christ says we will find blessing if our "be-attitude" is right. We will find less of us and more of the God who loves us. When we feel abandoned, we will find there is nothing left to embrace but the God who loves us most. When we find contentment in who we are and what we've been given, we are blessed by knowing there is nothing that can make us happier than the God who provides. When we're starving for God, we will find that He fills us with satisfaction as no one else can. When we stop worrying about ourselves and find ourselves caring for his creation, we find we are cared for by the very Creator Himself. When we see ourselves rightly, knowing our sin intimately and are truly repentant, we find God everywhere we look.

So I still like the beatitudes. I like them more than ever. Test them for yourself. See if they are as true for you as they are for me. Taste them, meditate on them, incorporate them. Maybe you'll get a whole new "be-attitude"!

I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your statutes.
I have more understanding than the elders,
for I obey your precepts.
I have kept my feet from every evil path
so that I might obey your word.
I have not departed from your laws,
for you yourself have taught me.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path.
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light for my path.
-Psalm 119:99-105 NIV