As we discussed last time, the first four beatitudes identify characters or conditions that bring blessing: poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The final three are behaviors that grow out of the above strength of character:
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Mt 5:7-9).
Surely a person who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, by the grace of God, receives mercy.
But there is more – mercy does not stop with receiving it; blessedness comes from practicing and giving mercy to those in need, the ultimate form of righteousness. This could almost be reversed – cursed are the unmerciful, for they shall receive no mercy! (See the Parable of the Unmerciful Debtor – Matthew 18:23-35).
It follows that a habitually merciful person is pure in heart. It is not always easy to show mercy, for example, when we have been offended or injured or persecuted. To forgive is to show mercy, whether the receiver believes that or not. But the reward for this depth of pureness of heart is beyond anything we can imagine – we shall see God.
But when shall we see God? Not in this lifetime, unless we are alive when Jesus returns. So while we may receive and give mercy in this life, and develop a purity of heart in this practice, our reward will come in heaven when we see God, who might say something like, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
But Jesus saves the greatest reward for the greatest of behavior – peacemaking. I believe this draws us very close to a prime example of unity with God. If disunity is the lack of peace, doesn’t it follow that perfect unity involves crafting peace out of conflict?
Jesus goes on to say that peacemakers are not only blessed, but that they shall be called sons of God.
We are blessed if we practice mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking, but there is one more thing that enables us to do this, without which we are powerless:
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).
Sons of God, children of God. We can do none of this if we do not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Son of God.
It is only when we confess and repent of our sins that we can practice mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking to the degree that we, too, may be called sons of God – by the Son of God Himself!