"Rock Goes The Gospel" devotions from the 23rd February till the 4th March will focus on chapter five of Matthew's gospel. The Eight Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are an invitation to a way of living that brings true happiness and both inward and outward peace. The Beatitudes call us to a radically new way of being when we focus our lives on God, and we become transformed. The beatitudes call us to true happiness and the deepest of joy as we find our true identity in our relationship with God and true peace both inwardly and outwardly.
Each Beatitude begins with the word “blessed.” The Greek word translated as “blessed” means “extremely fortunate, well off, and truly happy” because one is favoured by God. To live the Beatitudes is to be focused on God and God’s desires for our life. They invite us to live in a true inward peace that leads to a desire to be outward peacemakers, to bring reconciliation, to seek out opportunities for mercy and compassion, to pursue justice and righteousness as a hunger and thirst. We live the Beatitudes where we are right now, one day at a time, one leading at a time, and one action at a time. We live them realising that we are imperfect, that we make mistakes, and need forgiveness. We live them with confidence in Jesus’ promise of a joy and peace that only God can give.
The eight Beatitudes in Matthew can be arranged into two categories. The first reflect a longing for a deeper relationship with God (blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn). The second group reveal the transformation of our lives as fruits of that relationship (blessed are the pure of heart, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted). The first group brings us into closer relationship with God which results in the transformation of our lives described in the second group.
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