Blessed are...

Counterfeit Blessings

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5

If we counterfeit God’s blessings, we may fool others for a time, we may even fool ourselves, but we cannot fool God. Many have tried. It is possible to wear poverty of spirit like a robe of office. We may use the language of selflessness, and we may take pains to demonstrate how little value we place upon our efforts. But if we take pride in our poverty then it is false.

Mourning over sin may also be mimicked, but if we are not truly contrite then our confession is merely lame. When the sins for which we beat our breast are exaggerated in order to make us appear more pious, then we have turned repentance into a racetrack. When mourning continually rakes over the embers of a folly long-forgiven; when we try to seem the biggest sinner in order to claim a greater reward, then our sorrow is a chimera, and it is false.

Meekness can be a mask we wear at our convenience to emphasize our maturity, or to melt away from some responsibility we wish to avoid. When our gentleness is reserved for public and our loved ones at home suffer from our lack of self-control; when our other-worldly graciousness hides our spineless indifference to injustice; then our meekness is a mockery, and it is false.

But when, in deep humility, we give ourselves to Christ, and when His Spirit guides us into all truth, and when the seed of faith within us bursts into full bloom – then we know ourselves to be among the blessed.



Heavenly King,
How can I pretend in Your presence?
How can I think, for a moment,
that my deceitful, duplicitous heart will not give me away?
That’s why it must be Yours, Lord,
not only at my convenience, not only in part,
but in whole – I give You my heart.
Take it, and use it in some lovely way.
For Your Kingdom’s sake.
Amen.