We are Far too Easily Pleased

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is setting before us a whole new vision of how the gospel enters and then transforms our thinking.  It describes a new kingdom mindset that has new passions and new behaviors.  C.S. Lewis once gave a remarkable sermon called “The Weight of Glory.”  In it he made this powerful statement:

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.”

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

In the Beatitudes, Jesus is trying to help us see that our world is far too easily pleased.  Our world, with its fleeting passions, is weak and needy.

As disciples, we belong to a new kingdom, so it is fitting to have a whole new mindset.  Long gone are the dreams of temporary sinful pleasure that last a moment, then fade away for an eternity.

Instead, the disciple is offered real, lasting pleasures of righteousness.  He is given true freedom from the bondage of sin.  Jesus doesn’t have two types of disciples: those who submit to the authority of Christ and those who do not.  The call to be a disciple is the same of every person.  To be a disciple of Christ means to openly live a life committed to Him.

A true disciple is a person who has committed their life to Jesus Christ and His mission.  In our passage today, Jesus describes the mind of a person who is whole-heartedly driven to pursue the Living God and the never-ending pleasures at His right hand