Did you ever see the movie, “The Poseidon Adventure”? It’s an oldie but a goodie where a cruise ship capsizes while at sea and a handful of passengers try to escape before the ship totally sinks. The challenge they face is in trying to find a way out, while everything is upside down. What was once the ceiling is now the floor, and everything looks totally different.

Those who gathered on that hill two millennia ago to hear Jesus preach what was perhaps his first sermon may have felt disoriented as well. Jesus was introducing to them a whole new way of living, the Kingdom of God. What was once up is now down. What seemed like the right way to live has now radically changed. For us, we have the benefit of those words Jesus preached recorded in The Sermon On The Mount, and The Beatitudes that introduce us to this new way to live. Mercy, purity, and peacemaking don’t come naturally to us, but they are part of the character makeup of our Savior. This new Kingdom Jesus revealed, is filled with those who have been born of the Spirit, and are now by the Spirit’s power, learning to live life in a new way. Living this way may seem upside down at first, but the promise we have is that those who do live this way find true happiness and joy. And can you imagine how our relationship with others would change if we regularly walked in the good of these beatitudes? May our Lord draw us to Himself, impart His grace to us, and empower us to live as merciful, pure in heart, and peacemaking people for His glory alone.

I love how James points us to God’s wisdom, and helps us to understand the great benefit it is as we walk in it. We read about this wisdom in James 3:17-18.

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”