What is the good life? Who is the truly blessed person?

Something I shared at senior night and that God has ever increasingly been showing me:

One of the most common questions of senior year of college is, "what are you going to do next year and with the rest of your life?" I encouraged the seniors to realize that God is so much more concerned about who we are becoming and the person we truly are in our hearts than about what we do (and authentic, lasting fruit flows from a transformed heart. As Jesus said: "You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.") Because our culture most strongly defines us by what we do, it is easy for us to play (and try to win) the game of life according to the rules of our culture rather than according to the Word of God.

It is rare and strange for a person to honestly care more about who they are becoming than about what they do, but this should not be so if we live in light of eternity with our mind set on things above. When we reflect on the quote that I posted awhile back by CS Lewis, "you don't have a soul. You are a soul and you have a body," we realize that the only thing that will remain after this short life is over and our earthly tents expire is who we have become and who we really are to our core. We will be held accountable for what we did as well, but God cares about and looks at looks at our hearts in these actions. If our hearts were "full of greed and self indulgence" as we went about our "good works," they will be dead works in God's eyes, as we see in Jesus' confrontations with the Pharisees. Let us not judge others in this, but ask God for his mercy and a transformed heart.

So I have been asking myself the questions: am I honestly prioritizing who I am becoming over what I do? Am I viewing what I do as my identity and an end in and of itself OR as a vehicle for God to transform me to become more like Him and to help me love Him and others more? Am I acutely aware of my thirst and desperation to be transformed, constantly begging God to transform me? Am I depending on God to transform me, putting my hope and confidence in His ability to change my heart?

Everyone is always subconsciously or consciously asking the question what is the good life? Who is the truly happy person? Well our culture will try to answer that question in contradiction to the beatitudes in Matthew 5. The cultures beatitudes would probably sound something like this:

Blessed are the rich, for theirs is the comfort, security, power, and possessions.

Blessed are the self sufficient, for theirs is the respect and control over life

Blessed are the centers of attention, for they are special and important

Blessed are the beautiful, thin, and strong people, for they are desirable and shown favor

Blessed are the powerful and successful, for they are significant, special, and valuable

Blessed are the smart, for they will get good jobs, make a lot of money, and gain respect

Blessed are the athletic, for they can gain significance and respect through winning and being the best (and maybe become a hero if they are successful enough)

Blessed are the well spoken, for they will be socially smooth and admired

Blessed are you when all men speak well of you and you have many friends, for you will be popular, cool, and special.

I had a surprisingly easy time writing that list because my heart is in the know on those values. My heart knows those pulls and buys into those lies all the time. I wonder how many of those beatitudes I am putting my hope in and buying into.

Now contrast the world's beatitudes with the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 (accompanied by a short definition by DA Carson from his book Jesus' Sermon on the Mount)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Poverty of Spirit is the personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy. It is the conscious confession of unworth before God. As such, it is the deepest form of repentance.... Poverty of spirit becomes a general confession of a man’s need for God, a humble admission of impotence without Him.

Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.

Mournfulness can be understood as the emotional counterpart to poverty of spirit. At the individual level, this mourning is a personal grief over personal sin.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Meekness is a controlled desire to see the other’s interests advance ahead of one’s own.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Righteousness” here means a pattern of life in conformity to God’s will. 

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

A man is merciful to the wretched because he recognizes himself to be wretched; in being merciful he is also shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Purity of heart must never be confused with outward conformity to rules. According to John, the Christian purifies himself now because pure is what he will ultimately be. His present efforts are consistent with his future hope. The pure in heart are blessed because they will see God. Although this will not be ultimately true until the new heaven and earth, yet it is also true even now. 

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Peacemakers are blessed because they will be called “sons of God” –not “children of God,” as in the King James Version. The difference is slight, but significant. In Jewish thought, “son” often bears the meaning “partaker of the character of,” or the like. If someone calls you “son of a dog,” this is not an aspersion on your parents, but on you: you partake of the character of a dog. The peacemaker’s reward, then, is that he will be called a Son of God. He reflects his heavenly Father’s wonderful peacemaking character.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This final beatitude becomes one of the most searching of all of them, and binds up the rest; for if the disciple of Jesus never experiences any persecution at all, it may fairly be asked where righteousness is being displayed in his life. If there is no righteousness, no conformity to God’s will, how shall he enter the kingdom?

Lord, please help my heart to know and believe what Jesus says the truly blessed heart looks like. Please help me enter your Kingdom through putting on these heart postures. I know He is answering my prayer because He is changing my heart level value system with much testing, much work, and much patience:)