New String

My apologies to all of you for not posting this morning. My family and I just returned yesterday from Destin and I was beat. I know, it's not good enough for you and it's definitely not good enough for God. So I humbly ask your forgiveness and I will forever ask for God's on many more issues than this. And so I digress.......

For the next few days, I am going to write a string of posts on one of the most influential, controversial, emotional, figurative, and inspiring portions of Christ's famous Sermon on the Mount: the Beatitudes. For a long time, I have wondered what a beatitude was. Just by looking at the Latin root of the word, we can see what it means. From the great encyclopedia Britannica, the famous phrase from each verse, "Blessed are" or, Beati sunt, is the key to the title in this section of Matthew's gospel.

I, too, have a couple root words for the Beatitudes: I call them the "Be-Attitudes" (I don't know that this has ever been used before in a book or pulpit, so I am not intentionally taking anything from someone who deserves credit). Verses 3-10 of Matthew chapter 5 describe 8 "attitudes" that we should have as followers of Christ. We need and should Be these Attitudes. That is what I mean. As we go through this study of each verse, you will hopefully see what I mean. Please do not mistake this for some kind of grand expression of faith. I just believe that we should emulate all that Jesus was talking about. Can we do this always? No one is perfect. But we must keep striving. And so the series begins........

Trying to be an attitude,
Jesus Freak Out!