Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lesson selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the message version relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading.

We're reading today from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, verses 1 through 12 from the Message you're blessed When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed hillside.

Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed climbed with him.

Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions.

This is what he you're blessed when you're at the end of your rope with less of you, there is more of God and His rule.

You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.

Only then can you be embraced by the one most dear to you.

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are, no more, no less.

That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.

He's food and drink and the best meal you'll ever eat.

You're blessed when you care at the moment of being careful, you find yourselves cared for.

You're blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and your heart put right.

Then you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of how to compete and fight.

That's when you discover who you really are and your place in God's family.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution, the persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

Not only that, count yourselves blessed.

Every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me, what it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.

You can be glad when that happens.

Give A cheer even for though they don't like it.

I do.

And all heaven applause.

I know that you are in good company.

My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

Well, that ends this reading.

So let's get into it here a little bit where kind of Jesus flips the script on happiness.

So it's kind of like, what if everything you've been told about success is upside down.

So, my friends, I just thank you for joining me today.

So let's settle in for a few minutes.

Find a spot, Find, get your cup of coffee.

Let's spend a few minutes together with the passage that still kind of messes with my head a little bit every time I read it.

It's often called the Beatitudes and it's from Matthew, chapter five.

So as we get into this, as we dig into this passage, I've got three points for us to ponder today.

I think they might challenge some of the ways we've been taught to think about faith and success and what it means to live a good life.

Point to ponder number one.

Jesus is describing community, not a checklist.

Here's something I didn't understand for a long time.

I used to read the Beatitudes, kind of like a self improvement guide, you know, like a self improvement list or books.

Do this, do this.

Be humble, check.

Be merciful, check.

I'm working on it.

You know, make peace.

Okay, I'll give it a try.

But that completely misses the mark of what Jesus is looking to do here.

Jesus isn't standing up on the hillside saying, here are eight personality traits you need to develop.

He's looking out of a crowd of real people, genuine, authentic people.

Poor people, sick people.

People have been told their whole lives that they didn't measure up to the standards, the religious standards of the day.

And he's saying, you, you, I mean you right there, you already belong to the kingdom of God.

You see, in Jesus's day, there was a very clear religious hierarchy.

The people who had it together, who followed all the rules, they had wealth and status.

They were considered blessed by God and everyone else, well, they must have done something wrong.

It kind of sounds familiar, doesn't it?

We still do this today, don't we?

We still assume, some of us assume that success and comforts are signs of God's favor and struggle is a sign of God's absence.

But Jesus flips the script completely.

He looks at the humble, the grieving, the meek, the hungry, and says, the kingdom isn't something you earn.

It's something you're invited to into.

And the invitation goes first to the people the world has pushed to the margins.

This matters for us today because it means our faith communities should look like the hillside crowd.

Diverse, messy, full of people trying to figure it out.

And if our churches only have room for people who've kind of, quote, got it all together, then we missed the mark.

We've missed the point.

Here's the second point to ponder.

Happiness isn't a feeling, it's posture towards life.

Now, I'm going to be a little bit careful here because I don't want to be dismissive of real emotions.

When my wife and I are out taking a hike somewhere and one of the beautiful wooded parks we like to go, Brown County State park here in Indiana is one.

Or maybe in the Smokies or the Rockies or the Cascades.

We've been to all those places.

There's a feeling of peace that washes over me.

And that's real, that matters.

But I don't think Jesus is talking here about mere feelings.

Only when he says happy.

I don't think even though he uses that word, what Jesus is describing is more like we might call a fundamental orientation towards life, a way of being in the world that isn't dependent on circumstances.

Think about it.

How can you be happy and in mourning at the same time?

How can you be happy while you're being persecuted?

That doesn't make emotional sense, but it makes deep spiritual sense if we understand happiness here as a kind of resilient trust that God is at work even when everything around us go south says otherwise.

You know, I have another podcast I do.

It's called.

It's called Cancer and Comedy, where I talk with folks impacted by cancer and I meet people all the time who embody this, and they're going through absolute hell in their lives.

But nothing about their circumstance and nothing about their circumstances is often good.

And yet there's something about a lot of these folks and them that the diagnosis can't touch.

And that is a groundedness, a peace that, as Paul says, passes all understanding.

That's what I think Jesus is pointing out to here.

It's not toxic positivity that denies pain, but a deep rooted assurance that pain isn't the final word.

One more point to ponder.

The Beatitudes are an invitation to participate and what God is already doing.

Here's where this gets a little practical and maybe a little uncomfortable.

Notice that Jesus isn't just describing conditions.

He describes actions.

The merciful show mercy.

The peacemakers make peace.

The hungry and thirsty pursue goodness actively.

And a progressive reading of this passage insists that faith is never just about personal salvation or private spirituality.

It's about joining God in the work of healing the world.

When Jesus says happy are the peacemakers, he's not talking about people who avoid conflict or keep the peace by staying quiet.

He's talking about people who actively work to create conditions where peace can flourish.

Economic peace, racial peace, peace between communities that have been taught otherwise to fear each other.

When Jesus says happy are the hungry for they will thirst for goodness.

He's talking about people who aren't satisfied with the way things are.

They want righteousness, they want justice, and they pursue it with the same desperation that a starving person pursues food.

Let's talk about an action step that you can take here.

So I want you to choose one of these Beatitudes, whichever one resonates most with you, where you are in your life right now, and look for one concrete way to live it out.

For instance, if you choose happy and the merciful, maybe that means reaching out to someone who's hurt you or maybe has hurt somebody else and offer them some symbol of peace.

If you choose happy or the peacemakers, maybe it means stepping into a conflict you've been avoiding, not to win it, but to reconcile it.

If you choose happy, those who hungering thirst for right, for goodness, maybe it means learning about an injustice in your community that you've been ignoring and taking some small step towards alleviating that pain and doing something about it.

Don't try to tackle all of them.

Just take one and do something about it and lean into it for seven.

Days.

To come back and have a prayer here in just a minute.

Before that, we do want you to know we have a Bible study resource for you called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

I hope you'll pick it up at our website, voiceofgod daily.com let's pray.

God of the hillside, God of the crowds, God of everyone who's ever felt like they don't belong.

We come to you today just as we are.

Some of us are mourning, some of us fighting for for peace in our homes, our workplaces, our communities.

Some of us just tired.

Meet us where we are.

Help us to trust that your kingdom isn't somewhere else or someday later.

It's here now, already breaking through in small ways and big ways all around us.

Give us humble hearts.

Give us eyes to see the people of our world has pushed aside.

Give us the courage to make peace even when it costs us something Give us hunger and thirst for a world that looks like the one you dream of when the world tells us we're foolish for believing when the voice inside our heads tells us we're not enough Remind us of your words how happy are you?

Not how happy you could be or happy you should be, but how happy you are right now.

Already loved, belonging and invited thank you for that invitation to help us to live into it today.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, gets created new every morning.