The Blessed Life - Part 3

The Blessedness of Those Who Are Holy

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
  For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
  For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
  For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
  For they shall be called sons of God.

                        (Jesus, Matthew 5:6–9)

            Another popular but misguided notion is that happiness is found in pursuing whatever our heart desires—a life of self-gratification. The ads on television reinforce the idea that the more we have, the happier we will be. But once again, Jesus reveals that the blessed life is contrary to what people tend to think.

            The blessed ones are those who “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” As was mentioned before, Jesus shows us that our great need is righteousness. In reality, happiness is connected deeply with morality. This is because humans are moral beings, and our emotions and self-perception are closely tied to how we feel we are living up to a certain standard. When we are not moral, it creates problems—internally and relationally. The Christian counselor Jay Adams likens our conscience (the feelings that stem from our sense of morality) to lights on a car dashboard. Bad feelings can be warning signs of something that is out of whack and needs to be dealt with. Honestly, I often ignore the warning lights on my car, which is (not surprisingly) in very bad condition, but to ignore the warning lights of our conscience is perilous to our well-being.

Jesus says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness “shall be filled.” Soul-satisfaction is found in pursuing what we as moral beings fundamentally need. God is ultimately the only one who can fill our need for righteousness (He, after all, is the giver of the standard to which we all sense accountability). When we seek godly righteousness, we find satisfaction in being made right with God (which can be termed justification), in being changed for the better (sanctification), and in the end, becoming completely perfect like God Himself in the kingdom of heaven (glorification).

A blessed person, Jesus declares, is also merciful person. Recently, my son and I were involved in a bicycle accident where we both fell down on the road as we were reaching the bottom of a hill. We were scraped up pretty badly, and as we sat bleeding by the side of the road a couple of people stopped to ask if we were alright and if we needed anything. These people were demonstrating mercy–concern for someone in distress and seeking to help. Mercy is not just feeling bad for people, it involves trying to do something about their plight out of sincere compassion.

 Sadly, there are people who are very religious who are, nevertheless, not merciful. Jesus dealt with people like this. Some Jews of the Pharisee sect believed that certain rules had to be followed on the Sabbath for one to be righteous. They actually tried to test Jesus concerning their religious standards, asking Him if it is keeping the law to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus said, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?  Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:11–12, ESV) Jesus then took a man who had a deformed hand and restored it to health. Jesus showed compassion. In Matthew, this event takes place right after Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees how the Scripture says, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 12:7, ESV).

God desires mercy, not mere religiosity. Those who have come to God humbly and desire true righteousness will be merciful toward others. They are the ones, Jesus declares, who can be assured that they have received mercy from God: “they shall obtain mercy.” People may think they are good because they know a lot about the Bible and refrain from certain language and behavior, but a great test of our spirituality is whether we are truly merciful—trying to help people who are suffering physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Those who are merciful are blessed.

Works Cited:

Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970).

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version.  Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.