Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth – Matthew 5:5
Jesus third blessed attitude is one that leads us to a place of natural blessing and abundance. The Lord teaches us that real wealth comes from a feeling of peace and contentment with who we are and what we have. At some point we have all heard the expression, keeping up with the Jones’. This expression refers to innate sense of competition we all have. When a neighbor, or friend or even a member of our family gets something new, we feel the need to have it as well. All be it a new TV, or piece of furniture or even something as large as a new car, as soon as the Jones’ have we also have to have it. This mentality has existed for all time. “Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (I Samuel 8:5-6). The people of Israel arrived at a place where all of the surrounding nations had their own kings and instead of continuing in a place where the people are ruled and led by God they desire a king like all the other nations. The people of Israel thought this was going to bring them more material wealth and prosperity, but instead in actually ended up costing them more. In verses 10 – 17 of chapter 8 in the first book of Samuel he articulates all that will be required from the people of Israel in order to have their king. Yet Israel still desires to have a king. We cannot truly be blessed as a people until we have a mentality of contentment.
We are more than conquerors today because the Lord has blessed us with a mind to be at peace with all that the Lord has provided for us. Dear believer let us be clear; this is not an endorsement of sloth or complacency. Christ has called us a holy nation and His royal priesthood. We are heirs to the promise God made to Abraham and in turn have access to that inheritance. However material gain should not be our focus or motivation. In fact the Lord tells here that we will only inherit the bounty of the earth when we are content with who we already are and our current state of blessings. Keeping up with the Jones’ never benefited anyone and furthermore as Disciples of Christ we should live such that the Jones’ want to keep up with us. My dear reader be at peace today with who you are, because only than we will find yourself in a place true prosperity and material wealth.
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