Having a ‘BEE’ Attitude

(The Beatitudes of Jesus – Matthew 5: 3 – 10)

Somewhere between the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was a famous boxer. His name was Mohammed Ali. He had a catchphrase that was popular and many people caught on to it. In interviews on TV, he would say, “I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee…” It’s kind of silly, but you older folks probably remember it. I was just a little baby during those years and for some reason it popped into my head. After I thought of it for awhile, a new topic sprung up…the bee.

The bee is one of God’s unique little creatures that deserve a little looking into. I believe God places creatures and animals here for us to learn from. We can study their behaviors and discover or rediscover how we are supposed to live.

When you look at a bee, you’ll notice they live in colonies (or families) and they work together to support their queen. This is very similar to how we, as Christians, should be by supporting our church. We should all work together and grow the colony, which is the church.

Have you ever heard the saying “busy as a bee”? If you’ve ever noticed a colony of bees, you’ll see that bees are constantly moving. They are not sitting still. They are either buzzing around getting nectar and pollen or they are feeding the queen and the younger bees. Part of our jobs as Christians should be helping the youth, the congregation, the pastor, and the church. Just keep moving!

One of the important roles of a bee is that they distribute pollen. Pollination is necessary for the reproduction of seed plants. To put it simpler, they help plants to grow. From a Christian standpoint, pollen is like the Word of God. If we share the Gospel with others, people will get saved and a new life will begin to grow.

Now that I have you thinking like a bee, let’s get ‘bee’ attitudes. If you have your Bibles, let’s read:

Matthew 5:3-10

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As you have already guessed, we just read the Sermon on the Mount. The verses are known as The Beatitudes. I’m sure you’ve read them before, but let’s talk about them and learn how they relate to our Christian life.

Based on what I’ve studied, the Sermon on the Mount was the first sermon Jesus gave to his disciples and the people that gathered. It is only found in the book of Matthew. However, there is a similar sermon found in the 6^th chapter of Luke. It’s called the Sermon on the Plain.

To me, what makes this sermon so unique is that Jesus preaches on how a Christian should be. He could’ve spoken about sin and the consequences of sin. He could’ve spoken about Hell, fire and damnation, or on how bad the world is, but His first sermon and His first main concern was about His people.

It’s like He wanted to make sure His people were living right and had the right ‘attitude’ in their Christian walk.

Let’s take a look:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

His first point didn’t mean that in order to go to Heaven you had to be financially broke. It doesn’t mean that wealthy people can’t go to Heaven. When a Christian is poor in spirit, it means that they are to be humble. When a person is humble, they realize that all of their gifts and blessings come from God. When you’re poor in spirit, you will become completely empty and open to the Word of God. Being humble brings you inner peace and allows you to do the will of God. Being humble allows you to help others – no matter who they are.

The opposite of being humble is to be full of pride. Pride is a bad thing to have. Having pride makes you miserable. Pride is when you put yourself before others – it’s all about you. Jesus wasn’t like that. He always thought of others. Pride also brings anger and seeks revenge when you get offended.

The Lord can remove pride from your heart and make you humble. This can be a painful process, especially when He removes things from your life that causes the pride. This can be material things such as your house, car, money, etc.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

The act of mourning is usually related to grieving when a loved one dies. The Lord can provide comfort during those times of loss. I believe this verse means more than that. If we are humble and we appreciate the fact that all of our gifts and blessings come from God, we will grow in love and gratitude for Jesus Christ our Savior. This will produce mourning and regret over our own sins and the sins of this world. We will know that we have hurt the One who has been so good to us – and that’s Jesus Christ.

Mourning in this verse would be a blessing because mourning over sin creates in us a desire to improve ourselves and to do what is right! It will also make us think of others that are lost and the need of Jesus in their life. It will make us reach out to them.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

The word meek means to be gentle and kind. This relates to how we treat others. This word is similar to being humble and deals with our relationship with people and how we serve our Lord. We shouldn’t be angry, but instead we should be happy and always try to build up one another by encouraging each other and showing love. We should also be obedient to the Lord. If you have a calling in your life, you should do it without hesitation. One of the ways we are blessed by being meek is from the peace that we will have by doing so.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

As Christians, we should hunger and thirst for righteousness. Being righteous to me means living a life that is pleasing to God. We should live our life by The Book, the Word of God. Our desire should be to live like Jesus and to be like Him. In every situation of life, we should ask, “What would Jesus do?”

We should go to church, read our Bibles, pray daily, and commit ourselves to living the life that Jesus intended for us to live. We all know that we aren’t perfect, but we should desire to be perfect, just like Jesus.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

To be merciful means we should show mercy. Mercy to our neighbors, people we don’t know, our family members, our church family, our friends, and even our enemies. We should show love, compassion, and forgiveness towards everyone because it will bring peace into our relationships.

In the Lord’s Prayer we say:

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

As we are merciful to others, so our Heavenly Father will be merciful with us!

Here are some ways to be merciful to your neighbor:

1) Help The Needy

If you know someone that’s hungry, thirsty, and homeless, we should help.

2) Visit The Sick

If you know people that are sick, especially people you are close to or even people that haven’t been in church for a while. Call them up or give them a visit. Find out how they are doing and see how you can help.

3) Be A Witness

If you know people that are lost, give them direction. I mean this in a spiritual sense. People need to know about Jesus. Invite them to church and tell them about our Lord and Savior.

If you know of Christian people that aren’t living right, help them find their way back. Talk to them and be a spiritual adviser.

4) Forgive People

Don’t go around holding grudges against people. Forgive them because God says so in the Bible. It tells me that if I don’t show forgiveness, He won’t forgive me of my sins.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

To be pure of heart means to be free of all selfish intentions and self-seeking desires. Has anyone ever done something for someone without expecting anything in return? This is an act of pure love. That’s what this verse is talking about. This is how we should be.

When you use the gifts the Lord has given you for others, don’t use them to make yourself look good or to get appreciation. Use them as though you were using them for the Lord. That’s being pure in heart.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Peacemakers not only live peaceful lives, but they also try to bring peace to others. You cannot give peace until you have peace within yourself.

The devil tries so hard to ‘break the peace’. He causes turmoil in the family, the church, and in the country. He fills our life with so much ‘junk’ and things we don’t need that we are overwhelmed and can’t seem to rest. The Lord wants us to have peace and He wants us to live a simple life. The world wants us to ‘get more stuff’ that never really satisfies us. The only thing we really need is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s true peace. When we are finally at peace within ourselves, we will be able to share this peace with others.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus said many times that those who follow Him will be persecuted.

John 15:20 – 21 says, “If they persecute me, they will persecute you.”

The disciples (Stephen, Peter and Paul), nearly all of the Apostles, and many Christians in the Roman era suffered for Christ’s sake. We may not suffer as greatly as they did, but we are or have been persecuted to some degree.

Christian teenagers may have it bad, too. There are a lot of pressures that kids face these days and they have to make a choice. Do I follow the Lord or give in to the pressure? Many times they will be made fun of or they will be ‘pushed out the pack’ for following the will of the Lord. To me, that’s a form of persecution. But the Lord promised those that suffer for his sake will be rewarded with the Kingdom of Heaven! And that’s good enough for me.

If you’re a Christian, and have not been living your life based on Matthew 5: 3 – 10, you just received an attitude adjustment: a bee attitude. Follow the principles that Jesus gave us in His Sermon on the Mount and apply it to your life. If you follow them, you will be blessed. With our new attitude, we should be ‘busy as bees’ because there’s a lot of work to do. We should be reaching out to others, spreading the Gospel, and growing the church just like bees growing their colonies.

And one more thing ……….’bee’ blessed!

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