the Beatitudes

Recently I have been digesting the Beatitudes. They are familiar to most who have been in the church for any given period of time. Even someone unfamiliar with the Bible has probably heard one of these at some point in their lives. People have quoted them for a variety of purposes.

These words are significant for a number of reasons. In the context, they set the stage for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. Christ came to bring the Kingdom and preached its arrival (Mark 1:15). The Sermon on the Mount depicts what life in the Kingdom looks like. It is the King teaching about the elements of His Kingdom. It reveals far more than outward compliance, but a heart that faithfully follows, obeys, and serves the King.

The Beatitudes begin the King's message. They outline what the blessed, fortunate, even happy life looks like under the reign of the King. It is a life opposite of what the kingdoms of this earth deem valuable and securing blessing.

Each Beatitude is packed full of good stuff. It would not do justice to breeze past them quickly. I am setting out to reflect and meditate on these twelves verses here. I will not necessarily hit them each day (hopefully by the end of the month of April), but I do aim to address each one on its own.

And as the Passion Week approaches, my prayer is that these Beatitudes will turn me from myself to the King who freely gives these blessings to those resting in His finished work on the bloodied cross, empty tomb, and glorious ascension.

health and wealth?

What kind of assurance does faith provide? Sadly, many believe faith assures prosperity in this life. John Calvin, in agreement with Scripture, emphasizes an entirely different understanding of assurance.

...Scripture establishes this as the sum of our salvation, that he [God] has abolished all enmities and received us into grace...

...For faith does not certainly promise itself either length of years or honor or riches in this life, since the Lord willed that none of these things be appointed to us. But it is content with this certainty: that, however many things fails us that have to do with the maintenance of this life, God will never fail. Rather, the chief assurance of faith rests in the expectation of the life to come, which has been placed beyond doubt through the Word of God. Yet whatever earthly miseries and calamities await those whom God has embraced in his love, these cannot hinder his benevolence from being their full happiness...

...In short, if all things flow unto us according to our wish, but we are uncertain of God's love or hatred, our happiness will be accursed and therefore miserable. But if in fatherly fashion God's countenance beams upon us, even our miseries will be blessed. For they will be turned into aids to salvation.

~from Calvin's Institutes, Book Three, chapter II, section 28 (emphasis mine)

serving size

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." ~Lamentations 3:24

When applied to food, a portion is defined as that which is "enough." A portion provides the necessary nutrients as well as sustenance for the individual. A portion is enough to meet the present need.

The same goes in the mind of the author of Lamentations. The Lord is his hope. The Lord satisfies. The Lord sustains. The Lord is enough.

I agree wholeheartedly with the inspired author of this text. However, I wrestle with the real-life application.

There are so many things within and outside of myself promising satisfaction. They tell me I will have "enough" should I simply get my hands on this or that. Many of them are even good things, gifts from the hand of God. But they are not and never will be enough.

Thus far in my semester, a great deal of emphasis in two of my classes has been on the believer's union in Christ. On the one hand this concept is complex, but it is also simplistic. In Christ I find everything I need.

Living out my union with Christ is what "the Lord is my portion" looks like. It means living as an adopted son of God. It means walking in freedom from the reign of sin over me. It means resting in the hope of what is to come. It means living a life of holiness through the Spirit within me. It means of all these and more.

The Lord is my portion. And the more I rest and walk in my union in Christ, I will find him to be more than enough for all my needs.