Blessed

“How blessed are those who keep justice, who practice righteousness at all times.” Psalm 106:3

Blessed – An Old Testament beatitude.  Jesus was not the first to use this pattern of speech.  He was an Old Testament man, and he taught from the Old Testament Scriptures.  Here is a beatitude of David.  The word in Hebrew is ashre.

There is something very important about the meaning of this word.  First, it is not about receiving a reward.  It has nothing to do with what I am going to get.  It is about a state of bliss.  It describes an inner character, not an outward reward.  Secondly, it is never used about God.  It only describes the inner state of human beings, almost always in relation to submission to God’s view of the world.  This gives us the key to understanding how Jesus used the same pattern in his beatitudes.

The primary characteristic of living according to the plan and purposes of God is inner harmony and bliss.  It is not the expectation of reward.  The reward is the change in our own hearts, brought about by the gracious intervention of God.  Blessings have much less to do with what we are going to get than with what we discover within ourselves.  Just as God looks on the inner motivation when He searches for repentance, God begins renewal from within our own character.

If you serve in order to receive, you have probably missed the point.  Serving changes character.  It is not about collecting rewards.  It is about an attitude toward life.

The men and women who make God the priority are blessed, not because God showers them with possessions, comfort or ease but because their lives take on a new perspective – a view from the gates of heaven.  They live in calm reliance under the authority of God.

Be blessed.  It is an invocation to inner peace.