Blessed are the job creators

The Beatitudes of Jesus are a statement on who is well off in the kingdom of God, but his beatitudes are clearly not the only statements of blessedness.  All around us day in and day out we hear answers to the question of who is well off and those answers are more often than not at odds with the kingdom of God.

Today spend some time in quiet reflection and write down the “Beatitudes according to America.”  Who is blessed according to our society?  Posing that question in a recent discussion at church, one woman replied “blessed are the job creators.”  This is an excellent example of the kinds of blessedness we strive for in our culture.

After writing down the “Beatitudes according to America” spend some time with Jesus own beatitudes and put them into your own language.  How would Jesus phrase the blessedness of the kingdom today?

Finally, try to see yourself in both versions of the beatitudes; by which standard are you blessed?