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Nov 05, 2023 06:00am

Happy are the… Part 2

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“[Happy] are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“[Happy] are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“[Happy] are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“[Happy] are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“[Happy] are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” (Matthew 5:7–12)

Today is the second part of yesterday’s post.

People who are merciful are truly happy. When Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him, Jesus replied with a story about a wicked servant who was forgiven a lifetime debt by the king and yet would not forgive a fellow servant a debt of a few days’ wages. Since the first servant was not merciful, he was thrown into jail until he could pay. Why? Because mercy should be a cycle. Those who have received mercy should want to show mercy to others, and those who show mercy to others can have confidence they will receive mercy in the end. Being the recipient of mercy should cause us to recognize how undeserving we are to have our sins forgiven by a perfect, holy God. Our sins are like the first servant’s debt—they would take an eternity to pay—an impossible task. Yet God, through the transaction that took place on the cross through Christ, chose to set His love and mercy on us. This should elicit our immense humbleness and gratefulness over the sheer wonder of this underserved miracle. When you have received that kind of mercy, you will be happy to extend mercy to others, and you can be confidently happy that you will receive mercy on the last day.

People who are pure in heart are truly happy. Something pure is spotless, perfect, free from all blemish, defect, or perversion. Our hearts must be this way in order to see God. Psalm 24:3–4 confirms this when it says, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.” At first, this seems like bad news because, if we are honest, none of us always does what is right or has untainted motives. None of us should be allowed in God’s holy presence since He cannot even look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13). And even worse, none of us can cleanse our own heart. “Who can say, ‘I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin’?” (Proverbs 20:9). Does that mean we never stand a chance to be happy? The good news is that God does not leave it to chance or to our own hands. Ezekiel 36:25–26 says, “[God] will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols [God] will cleanse you. And [God] will give you a new heart, and a new spirit [God] will put within you.” Truly happy people are the ones who have trusted in God to remove the sin-stain from their souls and now have confidence that they will see Him face to face one day.

People who are peacemakers are truly happy. God is in the business of reconciliation. Through Christ, God reconciles people to Himself. He places their sins on Christ, “[making] him to be sin who knew no sin,” and makes them into a new, righteous creation (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is true of us, then we have peace with God because our sin no longer stands between him and us. God also gives those who have peace with him the ministry of reconciliation—we are to proclaim the message of peace to others so that they too may be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). We are to tell them that right now they are enemies of God because of their sin, but if they place their faith in Christ, God will no longer hold their sins against them because Christ has taken their punishment upon himself (Romans 5:10). Not only do we show people how to have peace with God, but as sons and daughters of God, we have God’s peace inside us and flowing out of us as fruit of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are now able to love our neighbors, love our enemies, and “so far as it depends on [us], live peaceably with all” (Romans 12:18). And people who are living at peace with God and others are truly happy.

People who are persecuted for Christ’s sake and righteousness’ sake are truly happy. This teaching is perplexing! How can people who are mistreated, slandered, hated, tortured, or even killed for Christ be happy? It’s because they know their entire purpose is to live for Christ, telling others about his free gift of salvation, and if they die, it will only be better for them because they get to be with God. Their mindset is that of the apostle Paul who said, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:19). They understand that everything they have is from Christ—their life, their possessions, their family, their salvation. They will happily face persecution for him because their salvation cannot be lost, and everything else they have cannot be taken from them unless God allows it. And if he does, they are willing, like Paul, to lose everything—their job, their reputation, their money, their public persuasion—in order to know Christ and have his righteousness, and “that [they] may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible [they] may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:10–11).

This type of happiness does not ebb and flow. This type of happiness is rooted in something greater than anything the world has to offer—it is rooted in God himself who does not change. While life will bring us triumphs and trials, joys and sorrows, finding true happiness is not elusive or complicated. God offers it freely to those who forsake their sins and trust in his Son to save them. And people who know they have received God’s great mercy in Christ and have a place waiting for them in heaven where they will see him face to face someday have found true happiness.