Hangry

Today’s word is sort of centered around those questions.

Do you ever have those days that you have your complete agenda lined out, and then “poof” it was gone? Nothing went as planned?

Monday as I was leaving work, I had planned everything I was going to accomplish when I got home.

As I pulled into the driveway, my phone rang and the conversation (and although it was an important one) took about 20 minutes.

Got into the house and the 1st item one my list, didn’t go as planned. This was my fourth attempt at closing out that task!

One of the items on my list was to do a load of laundry, I took Tristan’s load out of the dryer and the lint filter was about “yay thick” Fairly new dryer, y’all.

Well, I calmly expressed to him, the result of his actions should I find that again!

Then the phone rings again! Understand now my frustration was building!

It was my bride, very politely (no seriously, VERY politely) asking me about the status of something she had asked me to do. I assured her it had been done, that I had even verified from an email I had received.

She assured me that something was wrong and the task had not been completed.

In my frustration I exclaimed “I don’t know what to do about that”!

We said our goodbyes, not the usual lovely dovey kind.

Almost as soon I hung up, I realized what MY problem was:

I was HANGRY!

I had fasted that day, and my body had began a conspiracy with my emotions!

I stopped everything and prepared me something to eat.

After looking into the situation, I realized that I had indeed NOT completed the assignment, completed the assignment and called Lisa, and delivered a bouquet of roses over the phone.

OK, I ate crow!

HANGRY

Today’ message is found in:

Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.”

I hope y’all understand my hangryness, was not what Jesus was talking about!

This passage is found in what is considered by many as the greatest sermon ever given.

Commonly known as “The Sermon on the Mount”

This section of Sermon on the Mount is known as The Beatitudes.

Years and years ago, when I first read that word, I read it as BEATitudes. You know, like the Beatles with an attitude! A new rock band! The BEATitudes.

It is derived from a Latin word that means Blessed.

A couple of months ago, I listened to a podcast that spent 40 minutes breaking down that word! 40 minutes! It was an incredible podcast.

Today, I think I can explain it in about an hour and a half!

The Greek transliteration from the Hebrew word Baruk (barrack), is HAPPY. But without a doubt it is much deeper than our English word happy. Just another one of those words that gets lost in translation.

Some translations actually read “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness...”

-Ask others what their bible says- 3 different ones

Throughout the years, I have tried to express to my kids, that my greatest desire for them in life (outside of their salvation), is that I want them to be happy.

It wasn’t until I began studying the word “happy” in the biblical sense, did I even begin to understand what I was saying! I know, scary right?!

When someone is asked what do they want out of life, a common response is “to be happy”.

Which in all likelihood really means they want to be blessed! Think about it.

I know I do.

I fact, I can intentionally make myself sneeze, just to have someone say “bless you”! JK

Although Jesus was speaking to the multitudes in this sermon, Matthew 5:1 “And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.”

His intended audience was His disciples.

As though He were saying to them in this verse "in order for follow me, you must hunger and thirst a right relationship with me, and thereby a right relationship with others.

In a couple of different studies I’ve done with The Beatitudes, I’ve come away with these 4 things:

They are a code of ethics for the disciples and a standard of conduct for all believers.

They contrast Kingdom values with wordly values. When you read the Sermon on the Mount, you walk away thinking, wow we’ve got this all wrong!

We see a contrast of the superficial faith of the Pharisees with the real faith that Jesus teaches.

The Beatitudes must be taken as a whole, not a pick and choose. When you string them all together, it is mind-blowing to me.