The Beatitudes (...the Be-attitudes... get it?) Introduction

I remember exactly the reason I started looking closer at the Beatitudes. It was because I wanted to do a consistent study – something that I could look at fully and actually finish, since I’m really lousy at finishing studies for the most part. I remember thinking something along the lines of, “it’s only 12 verses…” which, while true, underestimates what God can do when he gets you really involved in something to the point where you can’t believe how much information is packed into “only 12 verses”. This blog doesn’t include all the info you can dig out of the Beatitudes, but I wanted to post it anyway (please forgive me) because it’s something I want to be able to explore even more, but I feel like if I don’t let people know some of what I’ve learned, I’ll bust. And that would be a mess.

So… the Beatitudes. I don’t know that I ever really had a good grasp on what the point of these “blessed are” verses meant. I think some of my preconceived notions about them were:

1. The Beatitudes described certain people (think, “look! There’s a peacemaker!”).
2. Jesus was teaching this for the benefit of the crowds that had followed him.
3. All of these things were pretty much physical (poor, sad, meek, etc…).

HOWEVER! Yeah, “however” seems to be my thing whenever I decide to “really” dig in to Scripture. Sometimes, preconceived notions are correct; the majority of the time, they’re not (at least mine aren’t). I will be starting shortly and going through the first 12 verses of Matthew 5 and pointing out some of the interesting (and mind-blowing) thoughts that I have had while taking the time to actually read through and seek to understand them. I hope you’ll join me!