Living the Beatitudes: Mabel's Journey of Faith

The greatest teacher whoever lived, the greatest talk ever given, said what's insurmountable in this world is not your problems, your challenges, your pain. We're going to read about those today. It's the actual real available presence of God's kingdom, God's love, and God's care with you right there. [00:19:28]

The good life is the life that is lived permeated by the love of God, and there is no one who is shut off from that. Everything the world says about who alone has access to the good life—the rich, the beautiful, the powerful, and the famous—he just turns it all upside down. [00:46:40]

I never heard her speak of loneliness or pain except in the stress she placed on certain lines in certain hymns. It was not many weeks before I turned from a sense that I was being helpful to a sense of wonder, and I would go to her with a pen and paper to write down the things she would say. [07:40:00]

During one hectic week of final exams, I was frustrated because my mind seemed to be pulled in ten directions at once with all the things I had to think about. The question occurred to me: what does Mabel have to think about hour after hour, day after day, week after week? [08:05:00]

I went to her and asked, "Mabel, what do you think about when you lie there?" And she said, "I think about my Jesus." I sat there and thought for a moment about the difficulty for me of thinking about Jesus for even five minutes, and I asked, "What do you think about Jesus?" [08:31:40]

She replied slowly and deliberately as I wrote, "I think about how good he's been to me. Blessed, blessed, blessed. He's been awfully good to me in my life, you know. I'm one of those kind who's mostly satisfied. Lots of folks wouldn't care much for what I think." [08:50:00]

"Lots of folks would think I'm kind of old-fashioned, but I don't care. I'd rather have Jesus. He's all the world to me." And then Mabel began to sing an old hymn: "Jesus is all the world to me, my life, my joy, my all. He is my strength from day to day; without him, I would fall." [09:04:39]

When I am sad, he makes me glad. He's my friend. And then when my friend writes, this is not fiction. Incredible as it may seem, a human being really lived like this. I know. I knew her. How could she do it? Seconds ticked, and minutes crawled, and so did days and weeks and months and years of pain. [09:49:39]

Without human company and without an explanation of why it was all happening, she lay there and sang hymns. How could she do it? And of course, this is exactly what Jesus said 20 years ago: blessed, blessed people regarded by folks in our world as hopeless cases. [10:08:00]

The rejected, the forgotten, the isolated, the alone, the useless, the elderly, the alien. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn, for theirs now is the Kingdom of Heaven. You can come right on it and live in it if you want to with Jesus as your friend. [10:30:00]

So that's your song for today: when I am sad, he makes me glad. He's my friend. Make it a golden rule day if you like hearing John talk about The Sermon on the Mount. We've got a whole series on that, so go ahead and subscribe to make sure you don't miss any future episodes in that series. [11:01:59]

You can also go back and catch up on any episodes that you may have missed. Now, if you're interested in the email or the text alert that goes along with each episode, you can let us know at becomenew.com. Subscribe, and we'll make sure that you get those. [11:19:00]