Go After What You Really Want
“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Luke 6:21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. ”Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.
Luke 6:22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
Luke 6:23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
Luke 6:24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Luke 6:25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.
“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.
Luke 6:26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
Jesus speaks of being rich as a “consolation,” which means it is something that is soothing after some pain. Why would anybody need consolation? C’mon, WE ALL NEED CONSOLATION!
The point Jesus is making is that if you delight in the things of this world and make all of creation and created things your goal, you’ll get it. But that might be all you’ll get. There are plenty of righteous and holy ways to make money, but there are a lot more way to make a lot more money that aren’t holy.
The same goes for the hungry and full bit. Even the laughter and mourning bit. None of these satisfy our lives like God does. He created a need in each and every one of us so that we’d seek after Him, then He allowed the devil to present to us a zillion alternatives. That is sincere love. He wanted a family of people, not an army of robots.
You can commit your life to never being hungry. You can dedicate your years to staying ‘happy’ but it will all have a cost.
Like the other parables about the Kingdom of God, Jesus is trying to help us get things in the right order. His Kingdom is more important than our whole life being full of laughter. His glory and goodness are more important than us becoming rich.
If we loosen our grip on our idols of comfort, pleasure, and power, we start to let Jesus in to fulfill us in much deeper ways. Jesus fulfills needs in our soul.
To repent is to think in a completely different way. To turn 180º and move in a different direction. These teachings from Jesus show us that way. The happy people aren’t the one’s running after money and laughter, they are the people that throw off everything they can to run after Jesus. He is worth it.
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