[Jesus] began to teach them.
—Matthew 5:2
Eight of the world’s beatitudes of winners: Blessed are the rich. Blessed are the powerful. Blessed are the popular. Blessed are the connected. Blessed are the talented. Blessed are the beautiful. Blessed are the successful. Blessed are the elite.
The eight beatitudes with which Jesus began his Sermon on the Mount have nothing in common with the world’s beatitudes of blessedness.
When God rescued the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and made them his special people, he said: “You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you” (Lv 18:3).
God wants us to be different from the world. Nothing should cause Christians more shame than the comment, “You are no different from everyone else.”
Don’t tell me. Show me.
(For the next few days more on Jesus’ beatitudes.)