Happy

I’ve been reading the Phillips translation of the New Testament recently, and am really enjoying it. It’s in some ways more of a paraphrase than a translation (it certainly isn’t as literal as the ESV, or even the NIV) but it’s a whole lot better than the Message, and I’m enjoying reading Scripture in a new light.

One verse that really stood out to me recently was Matthew 5:5 (the Phillips version is not broken into verses though): “Happy are those who claim nothing, for the whole earth will belong to them.”

You know, especially as Western Christians, we claim a lot. Not just from God, but from each other, from places where we buy things, in every area of our lives. We pay money and we expect good food. We pay money and we expect good service. We expect the things we buy to be in good working condition, and if they aren’t as they should be, we expect a discount.

We all put too much stock in man, what he does, what he can give us.

What if we only expected from God? What if He were the one we were claiming from?

Would we not be inheriting the earth?