Be What?!

I was reading today's devo in the One Minute Bible. (It always takes me more than a minute, I'm a little slow.) Looking at the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5, and comparing it to verses from Psalms 51:17, Job 34:17-19, and Isaiah 57 and 66. What does it mean to be meek, to mourn, to be pure and holy? I look at those promises, and just wonder. My view of following Jesus is so based on competition and being the best, and this has little to do with it.

Doug Fields writes in the side bar about Jesus: "Here's what He said: Mourn and you'll be COMFORTED. Be gentle and you'll INHERIT THE EARTH. Show mercy and MERCY will be shown to you. Have a pure heart and you'll SEE God. Bring peace to others and you'll be God's CHILD. Be treated badly for doing good and you'll be HAPPY."

Is the path to happiness suffering for God? No, I mean, is that REALLY the path to happiness. Everyone in America, including me, is consumed with how to be happy. Wander Borders or browse Amazon, they make a living off of the idea. Jesus tells us point blank that if we suffer for God, we will be happy. If we are meek, we will inherit the earth. We want to earn and buy the earth. Jesus says you can't, but you can inherit it. By being meek. Gentle. Quiet. Suffering for doing what is right.

I'm so far away from this idea. I realize this is the challenge of history, that volume after volume have been written about this idea, and how mankind falls short on it.

But Jesus says it. Point blank. Crystal clear.

There has to be something to that.