WHAT DO THE BEATITUDES MEAN?

What makes you happy?

Maybe it’s eating chocolate, playing with a friend, receiving a gift, going on a trip with your family, watching a football game…

Everyone wants to be happy. Many people think that being happy is having many things: money, a car, lots of clothes, a big house with a pool…

However, all those are material things; they can stop existing someday. Besides, there are people with lots of money who are not happy. You may even feel happy right now, but in an hour feel sad because a friend wasn’t very nice to you or you missed the bus. The truth is that the things that happen to us in this world don’t always make us feel happy.

Would you like to know the formula for happiness that lasts forever? Jesus gave us eight formulas to be happy, known as the Beatitudes.

One day Jesus climbed a mountain and many people followed Him. There Jesus told them that they could be “blessed” or “happy” in spite of the problems and troubles of this world. Jesus invites us to be happy in the midst of sadness by being humble, being compassionate with others, having a clean conscience, and seeking peace—even if we are persecuted, insulted, and mistreated for obeying God.

Why does Jesus say we will be happy during those hard times in life? Because Jesus is always by our side and happiness is found in Him, not in the things we have or in the circumstances of life. Jesus promises us a better life in the New Earth.

Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-11 and write the one you like the most in your Prayer Journal.