13 May
(A)

The word “blessed” in the Beatitudes has been translated “happy”. However, although those who are blessed are generally happy, blessedness may mean more than ‘happiness’; in the Scriptures, man can bless God and God can bless man – to be blessed fundamentally means to be approved or to find approval. When man blesses God, he is approving God and praising him; when God blesses man, he is approving man. To be blessed by God, i.e. to be approved by Him is the highest blessing one can receive; if God’s approval means more to us than the approval of man, loved ones, colleagues, then we can understand the depth and profoundness of being approved by Him in comparison.

In the previous sharings on the Beatitudes, we looked at poverty of spirit and mournfulness.
Poverty of spirit is the acknowledgement of ‘spiritual bankruptcy’ in one’s life; it is the confession of unworthiness before God – as such, it is the deepest form of repentance. Only those who are truly poor in spirit can find true access to repentance and forgiveness before God. Even pride based on genuine virtues has the greatest potential for self-deception; but the Lord Jesus will allow none of these. Hence, in the previous sharing on teaching and preaching, we noted that pride can prevent the very best of God’s servants and preachers from coming to terms with accepting their ‘failures’ and ‘shortcomings’ and because of their ‘status’, not many can convince them of what is lacking in their preaching and teaching. In the same vein, pride is a major barrier to coming to Christ for salvation for unbelievers – very few can fully accept that salvation is all God’s doing, and that their merit does not count in the slightest bit- only the poor in
spirit will be able to do so with contrition.

We noted also that mourning is a personal grief over personal sin in the previous sharing. But mourning can also be for the sin of this world – the genuine and caring believer would join Lord Jesus in mourning for the sin of the people (as in Matt, 23 when the Master wept over Jerusalem); in the current age, the concerned Christian would mourn for the world characterised by immorality, falsehood, corruption, evil behaviour, knowing full well what will be the eternal end and outcome of those practising all these despicable ways and deeds. However, many of us are quick to condemn the negative behaviour of people of the world; very few are burdened about their eternal destiny and even fewer are concerned enough to share the ‘Good News’ with them.

The next beatitude: ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth’ (Matt. 5:5). Meekness is not weakness; it is a controlled desire to see the other’s interests advance ahead of one’s own. Moses was described as the meekest man who ever lived; and his meekness is demonstrated by his refusal to defend himself, by his controlled self-commitment to the Lord when his person and privilege were under attack. At the personal level, we are often concerned about justifying ourselves rather than with edifying our brother and sister for the sake of the Lord. It is the meek who can truly love their neighbours and seek the best for their welfare. The meek man sees himself and all the others under God. Since he is poor in spirit, he does not think more highly of himself than he ought to; the genuine meek man will be content; his ego is not so inflated that he thinks he must always have more.
Is it not true that many quarrels and disputes occur, even in the church, because each one tends to think that he or she is at the center of the universe, and thus relates poorly with the four or more billion others who are labouring under a similar delusion. The Triune God is at the center of the universe and rightly so, for He alone creates it and keeps it going. He would see to it that the meek would inherit the earth.

16 May
(B)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled ” (Matt. 5:6).

The man marked by poverty of spirit, who grieves over personal sin and social sin, and approaches God and man with a spirit of meekness, is inevitably one characterised by hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Hungering and thirsting for righteousness does not mean just wanting to be a bit better, but truly the longing for righteousness to him is as important as drink for one thirsty in the desert, and food for one hungry for many days (recall the Lord Jesus fasting for 40 days in the wilderness and truly feeling hungry).
Righteousness first means conformity to God’s will in one’s life. To him, it is “not my will but thy will be done” as expressed by Jesus agonising in the garden of Gethsemane. Choosing God’s will and conforming his will to His, even though it means pain, suffering, abandonment by those whom he loves, and enduring physical and emotional trauma – this is what such a man or woman who hungers and thirsts for righteousness longs for – and he/she is truly approved by God even those who are fellow believers may not understand or appreciate.

Such a person is not drifting aimlessly in a sea of empty religiosity; he is not distracted by inconsequent trivia; and he certainly is not indifferent to the unrighteousness going about him, even among those who claim to be fellow believers, and also the moral failures (even minor ones) in his own life.
Such a one will be filled with righteousness – the Lord God gives this famished person the desires of his heart.