The Beatitudes: An Eternal Inheritance

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" - Matthew 5:5 

Who are the meek? So often the word is associated with weakness and timidity. As Jesus stands on a hill, outside of Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee, He is addressing a mixed crowd of Jewish leaders, laborers and gentiles. Amidst this crowd are folks just like you and I. Some are angry with God, some are afraid of God, some are unbelieving and some are arrogant and self-righteous. As He lay out the guidelines for those seeking heaven, there is a pointedness to His statement about the meek. For in this situation I believe Jesus is referring to humility.

I was attending a conference on "investing for success" a few years ago. Speaker after speaker came on stage and laid out their ideas for breaking through the barriers which separate the extremely wealthy from the not so wealthy. Do this, do that, give us your money and trust that we will invest it and make you rich. Instant pleasure, the shortest path, easy money; people, by their general nature, are self-serving as were the people gathered on that hill listening to Jesus speak. It's not our fault you see, it goes back to original sin. Man has never been content with life. There is always more than what we have, and as far back as history goes man has been seeking it.

What Jesus is telling the Pharisees, tax collectors, Sadducees, Scribes and commoners on that hill though was contradictory to that inherent belief. For to find true wealth meant to humble oneself as the "meek" did. I imagine people left that hill confused on that day. Just like the conference I attended, they had come expecting to hear the key to breaking the bondage of oppression and finding their way to success. What they heard was the opposite.

So the lesson for us, 2000 years later, is no different. True success and wealth is found in serving, humility and meekness; and I don't mean weak or timidity. Love others, seek those who need help and do something about it. The wealth you seek should not be of this world, but of eternity. The money and possessions you gather here is worthless after you die, and face it, you are going to die - right? This doesn't mean that money and possessions are evil. Actually, they’re not. The love of money and possessions is. Seek wealth so that you may expand His Kingdom and bring more people to a relationship with Christ. You will be fulfilling Jesus' direction in Matthew 5:5. For you see, the true inheritance is in heaven not in this world.