What Does Blessed Mean? The Upside-Down Kingdom | S3E21

We’ve all heard about the Beatitudes. And if you’re asking what does blessed mean — honestly, most of us think we already know. We’ve heard it in sermons. We’ve talked about it in Bible study. I’ve even had my own kids come home from Vacation Bible School with the whole list memorized.

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for Him. He blesses those who mourn. He blesses the humble, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted. We know the words.

What gets my mind going is — do we actually know what any of that means right now? In this world? In the middle of the life we are actually living?

Because I don’t think the Beatitudes are just a list to memorize. I think they are meant to get deep inside of us and change something for the good. And in Episode 21 of Unscripted Conversations — the first episode of the Sermon on the Mount series — that is exactly what we are talking about.

Listen to What Does Blessed Mean

Go ahead and pull this one up wherever you listen — in the car, on a walk, while you’re doing whatever it is you do. Y’all I am not even kidding when I tell you this passage has had me fired up for weeks and I cannot wait for you to hear it.

We’ve Heard the Beatitudes — But Do We Really Know What Blessed Means?

Y’all how many times have we heard something that we just kind of tune out after hearing it for the 100th time? And I think that is exactly what has happened with the Beatitudes for a lot of us. We know the list. We can recite it. But if somebody pulled up a chair and asked you — okay so how are you actually living this out? Like in your real everyday life, what does it look like for YOU to be so hungry for God that nothing else satisfies? What does it look like for YOU to be a peacemaker when everything in you wants to go full on petty? Could we answer that? Because I couldn’t. Not really. And that is exactly why I knew we had to slow way down and dig into this one for real.

Blessed According to Jesus

What gets me so excited and all riled up about this is that Jesus walks up in front of this huge crowd — everybody is leaning in, waiting, wondering what He is going to say — and He sits down. And the very first word out of His mouth is blessed. And He gives that word to the worn out ones. The grieving ones. The ones being laughed at and talked about and pushed around. Not the ones with the highlight reel life. The ones with empty hands. Y’all I cannot even.

The word He used — makarios (mah-KAH-ree-oss) — means this deep settled okayness that your circumstances cannot touch. Not just a good day. Not things going well. Something underneath all of it that does not move no matter what is happening around you. And He gave that to the struggling ones. The empty handed ones. The ones nobody else was picking. I mean if that does not light something up in you I don’t know what will. You can read Matthew 5:1-12 and follow along — and catch up on the full Living the Kingdom Way series here Podcast Page.

What Does Blessed Mean — In the World We’re Living In?

Y’all that is the question that has been messing with me through this whole episode. Because anybody can say blessed are those who mourn on a Sunday morning. But what does that actually look like when it is YOUR life?

When people are mocking you. When they are saying every evil thing about you. When you are doing the right thing and it is making you a target. When you are grieving something real and nobody around you is calling that blessed.

What does Jesus’ version of blessed look like when it is not on the wall art — when it is just your regular life on a regular day? That is exactly what we get into in this episode and I promise you it is going to land somewhere you were not expecting. Go listen.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• Why we think we know the Beatitudes but might be missing what Jesus actually said
• What Makarios really means — and why it changes everything about how we read this passage
• The world’s version of blessed vs. Jesus’ version side by side
• What it looks like to come to God with empty hands — and why that is exactly where He wants us
• What these eight declarations actually mean for your everyday life — not just Sunday morning but on a regular Tuesday when life is happening all around you

Pin It for Later

Save it to your Faith or Bible Study board on Pinterest for whenever you need a little reminder or another listen. And if you know somebody who needs to hear that they are blessed in the middle of what they are going through, even in the tough times, send it their way.

Let’s stay connected

Unscripted Conversations is exactly what it sounds like — no script, no filter, just me and you having an honest conversation about faith and real life. We do not do churchy and polished around here. We do real and messy and genuine and I would not have it any other way.
New episodes drop every week over at SimplyBlessedDesignz.com and honey you do not want to miss what is coming up in this series.
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