Sermon Cloud

Wealth.  Possessions.  Food.  Laughter.  Popularity.  We strive for these things because we see them as being fundamentally necessary for a happy life.  Almost every man, woman, and child who has ever walked the earth has believed this, and everything that we experience in our lives seems to reinforce this.  Roughly two thousand years ago Jesus Christ stood up in front of His followers and turned this worldview completely upside-down.  He said that those who lacked these things were the ones who had it good, and the ones who had these things in abundance were headed for disaster.  At first, second, and third glance this makes absolutely no sense but it is rock-solid truth.  While money, food, and the approval of others can make us temporarily happy, they are temporary and can be taken from us in a heartbeat.  Not only that, we also turn them into idols and they distract us from the most important thing in the universe, God.  Those who lack such basic things are the ones that are blessed because it helps them to see just how much they need God, and just how much more valuable He is than the things they lack.