Episode 3 – The BE-Attitudes: Living Your Best Life Part 1: Are You Living Your Best Life?

Kimberly Faith: Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast with your host, Kimberly Faith. We seek to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love. Welcome to podcast number 3.  And this series is on the what we’re calling the b attitudes, which is the attitudes that we, as Christians, should have in order to live our best life. And so we’re gonna jump right into this multi series podcast I have today here with me, my favorite man in the world, my dad, John McLarty. Good morning.

John McLarty: Good morning. Well, thank you, Kim.

Kimberly Faith: And this podcast number 1 of this series is, are you living your best life? And just by way of helping you all understand how we came to write this series and now do this podcast, it happened. I was reading, in John chapter 10 verse 10, the words of Jesus. And he said, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. And, it struck me that I for most of my Christian life, I don’t feel like I have had what Jesus is describing.

And, dad, if you were to describe what most people think of as the most abundant life they could have, even Christians, what would you say would be most people’s description of an abundant life?

John McLarty: I would say things, status, respect, but really involved around a career, having plenty of money, a car that works, a job that satisfies, or a home that satisfies. Yeah. And then, for Christians, fitting God in a little bit on the edges. But Right. But, mainly, just the worldly comforts and but wrapped up in that, not not just things, but kind of some status and respect in the in the your peer groups and the culture.

Kimberly Faith: Right. How many social media followers you have? Even if you’re doing Christian things, I mean, I think we all get dragged into that. Like, how many followers? Right?

How many likes did I get? Right? And in in the material things of the culture of this world tends to invade, I think, what Jesus was talking about when he said an abundant life. And I think the proof of that is we look at Jesus. You know, he’s offering this, but what did he have that we measure that standard by?

John McLarty: He often did not have a pillow to lay his head on.

Kimberly Faith: Right. He died a criminal. Right? He was poor. He, by the world’s standards.

Right? But here he is saying, I’m gonna give you an abundant life. Well, we know he wasn’t lying. If you if you’ve received Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, you know he wasn’t lying, right? Because you know his character.

So, the beatitudes teach us what he meant about how to have the attitudes for living that give us an abundant life. That’s why this series has been so exciting to me. And I know I know that we’ve talked about this quite a bit.

John McLarty: Right

Kimberly Faith: And, and so, any initial thoughts? Because we’re gonna, basically, this first this first, podcast is gonna be an introduction. Who would the who the beatitudes were written to, the purpose for writing it, and what we, and we were gonna learn in this study about the attitudes for an abundant life. So So just wanna ask, are there any thoughts that you have initially just going into this introduction?

John McLarty: Yes. I’ll have to tell a little story because, the first two podcasts were Lynn and I’s testimony. And I just had this about going pursuing the hippie life and what we thought was freedom. And I have this distinct memory of achieving all of my hippie goals.

Kimberly Faith: Oh, no.

John McLarty: And that was we had actually it was kind of interesting. We had boiled life down to just have a piece of land with water, with a shelter, which in our case was a teepee, and then the next step is just to feed yourself. So I had a teepee with plenty of firewood, but I’ve bought land with 3 friends that had a spring on it. And then I was really into food, just stored food. So we had £50 of wheat, £50 of beans, £50 of rice.

I remember this distinct night where I had everything. I had all this food was in gallon seafood jars, so I was kinda surrounded by the shelves I built in my DB. And I had a fire, and I had spring water, and I thought, well, I’ve achieved everything. I’ve completed the package. And then I had this thought that this is kind of boring.

Well, like, what do I do now? And I was, like, just 21 years old. You know? And I thought, what do I do now? So we, me and, my friends and I drove into town just to see who we could hang out with.

So we had worked, you know, to get a piece of land and all this, and it just it wasn’t fulfilling. So something was still missing Yeah. Obviously.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And don’t you think I I mean, I I can use my life my own life. You know, I went to law school thinking  I’m gonna be this person. No one’s ever gonna laugh at me. Everybody’s gonna respect me.

I’m gonna have this beautiful life. So I went to law school so I could make a lot of money and I could achieve great things and, you know, paid for the house, paid for I mean, you know, had a had a marriage, had 3 beautiful kids. And it you know, here I was as a really I because I’d been born again years before, but I’d walked away from God. As a born again Christian, pursuing the same things that the world was saying were gonna give me satisfaction. And at the end of the day, I was broken, you know, because it wasn’t enough.

Right. Right. So Jesus is is and so Matthew chapter 5, which is where the beatitudes, we’re gonna talk about them, but we’re gonna do the introduction today. Matthew chapter 5, Jesus is saying, hey. If you’re my kingdom citizens, this is what your life is gonna look like.

And, I think I think right now, let’s just because we’re gonna talk about who the beatitudes are written to. And in a nutshell, we know that is Christians. He was talking to Christians. Right? Now that doesn’t mean that there’s not also always a general application to people who have not yet been born again.

And we’re gonna talk about that when we dive into the first, 2 beatitudes, especially. But the purpose for writing this is g and Jesus says it in every beatitude. And I wanna just write at this point, just read Matthew chapter 5 verses 3 to 12. And so let’s just read that. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you. Now I’m not gonna lie.

The beatitudes, I’ve always avoided them because it seemed to be a great, there seemed to be a great disconnect between the word blessed and then what Jesus said we were supposed to be like.

John McLarty: Well, true. Yeah. We all wanna be blessed, but who wants to be persecuted?

Kimberly Faith: Right. Or poor

John McLarty: Yeah. In spirit.

Kimberly Faith: In spirit.

John McLarty: Or mourn.

Kimberly Faith: Or mourn. Right? Mhmm. And so in the past, when I have approached the beatitudes and I don’t I don’t know about you. Maybe you didn’t have this view, but I just kinda skimmed over them saying, you know, it seems contradictory to me.

I don’t equate blessings with all these things Jesus is talking about. And I don’t wanna live my life poor and downtrodden and rejected. But Jesus is saying, if you are my children, you have my followers, you will be blessed, but you have got to do something. You’ve got to look at life differently than the world culture does, And that’s profound. It is.

John McLarty: it’s profound in application too.

Kimberly Faith: Yes.

John McLarty: Yes. Actual lived Christian life, trying our best to follow God’s will is way different than we would have planned for ourselves.

Kimberly Faith: It is. And that what you said reminds me of verses in Ephesians where Paul prayed, I think it’s in Ephesians chapter 1, that the church at Ephesus would have more than they could ask for or imagine. You know, that’s the life I want. That’s the life in my soul and in your soul, I’m sure too. Most people that are listening to this know you were created for something glorious.

You related to how you’re sitting in your teepee with your food surrounded by your food at age 21.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And you said, well, I’ve accomplished this, and then you were bored. That’s because God created a magnificent purpose in you, and you know this. That’s why you’re bored. Mhmm. You know?

And so we have been, as Christians, and again, this is written to Christians, we cannot let ourselves continue to be deceived or lured into the world’s way of thinking if we’re going to live the abundant life Jesus was talking about. And so, you know, I you know, we both talked about how we had come always. You as a as a as a lost person, me as a born again believer, had come to kind of the end of our satisfaction, the world’s way of thinking. And so Jesus, you know, now let me let me kinda segue with that. You know, when I read this and I realized that Jesus was pointing me to the beatitudes in order to find the abundant life, the reason I trusted his guidance to study these beatitudes and go ahead and plunge forward in verses that really were confusing and presented a conundrum for me is because in my journey of passionately pursuing Christ for the last 12 years or so, I have experienced some truths that are unassailable.

Number 1, doing God’s doing life God’s way is always better than my own way. And I know I can trust him. Number 2, because he has always he has never failed me. And I do wanna be challenged by the hard things because his way is always better. He always does my life better than my way than I do my life.

Sorry. I said it wrong. So let’s kinda begin. First of all, dad, do you have any thoughts about just this whole foundational approach to the beatitudes? Before we the next podcast, we’ll get into the 1st beatitude.

But do you have any thoughts foundationally as to, the general purpose that you think that Jesus gave for writing these beatitudes or, anything that you have learned just through the study?

John McLarty: I’ve been reading over and over again, the part of the New Testament that describes the life of Paul. And just as you were talking, I thought of the life of Paul. And he lived a blessed life, a blessed life. And you think here’s the guy that is delivering the gospel of grace, taking it out of the nation of Israel and delivering it to the Gentiles. Key figure in the establishment of the early church and the spread of the early church.

And you would think God just paved his way for him and gave him the clear path. Paul’s life in in various places as he describes persecutions, shipwrecks, hunger then beatings.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: And yet at the end and I’m just looking here in Philippians 44

Kimberly Faith: Which he wrote from prison.

John McLarty: Which he wrote from incarceration. Yeah. From, house arrest, unjustly. Rejoice in the lord always.

And, again, I say rejoice. And he’s writing a letter to encourage the Philippians. Well, he’s And then he says things like, I fought the good fight. I’ve, run my course. And he has this satisfaction, this this fulfillment toward the end of his life, that his life has meant something.

That’s fulfilling him. Yeah. But it was rough, but it was and then he gets toward the end of his life, he gets so people oriented. Mhmm. You know, like, when you think of Romans, there’s a lot of doctrine, very essential doctrine.

Right. But his latter letters are just so loving and concerned about the people he’s met along the way. And his life and that fulfills his life, and that fulfills our life, that true service to the Lord.

Kimberly Faith: And there’s that’s so rich.

John McLarty: Helping others.

Kimberly Faith: It’s so rich because it goes back to the first and second commitments. Right? The 2 great commandments that Jesus gave. Love me with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Right? And that you know, when we think about abundance and, again, just contrasting the world’s view to Jesus’ view. You know, if Jesus, who was god incarnate, he came to earth and lived like us to show us that he was real. Right? And that he had real suffering.

He had a real purpose. He had really sacrificed everything, and we can’t even put our make we can’t wrap our minds around what he sacrificed. And he doesn’t even require what he did of us. He says, hey. Give me your burdens.

My yoke is easy. When you are doing life through me, you don’t have to bear that burden by yourself like I did, you know? And Paul knew that. Paul, you know, he suffered, but he counted it joy to suffer.

John McLarty: Yeah. I can do all things, the cross.

Kimberly Faith: I can do all things. Right. And, you know, in in the letter to Galatians, he talks about in chapter 1, he talks about how we are going to be persecuted. We are going to suffer, but we are not we’re not gonna be free from suffering, but we’re free from the power of suffering.

Right. The power of pain.

John McLarty: Overcomers.

Kimberly Faith: Right. We don’t have to be living our life as if we’re subject to that. And the problem is when we when our greatest view of an abundant life is in the things that we can lose, you know, then we’re so easily crushed. Mhmm. But we can never Jesus says, I will never leave you.

I will never forsake you. And so in the beatitudes, he’s laying this foundation for his kingdom. You know, something that bible commentator David Guzik said was, the beatitudes and the sermon on the mount is Jesus’ declaration of his kingdom.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: Much like we have the declaration independence. Right? Karl Marx had his communist manifesto. And Jesus is saying Jesus is presenting this radically different view to the to the people he’s preaching to. They’re expecting the messiah to come free him from the Romans. They’re looking at the worldly benefits.

John McLarty: And that idea that it’s a declaration of his kingdom, just when he said that makes me think, I wanna really dig into these.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah.

John McLarty: Yeah. Not just recite them.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: Not just have them in a little on a in a plaque Right. On a wall and read them every once in a while, but study them.

Kimberly Faith: Well, it it’s interesting you say Dig

John McLarty: into them.

Kimberly Faith: That is the same reaction this has produced in in my life because it’s been so transformational that, you know, I made these videos now. We’ve got the devotionals, and now we’re doing a little tabletop coffee book, table book to just have something you can just reread because, and matter of fact, we’re actually writing a prayer that and not that I’m endorsing, you know, words as prayers, but when you have the right words to like, when you pray the scripture back to God, you know, that’s his word, which is Jesus, going through his spirit to the father. It’s like you’re invited to the dance with the holy spirit, the Jesus, and the father. And your prayer is I don’t even know how to describe this, but I know when it happens. Mhmm.

It’s just it’s amazing. But if we are claiming to be kingdom citizens, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, then Jesus is saying, this is what your life should look like. And, oh, by the way, you’ll be so blessed if you will apply these attitudes and get yourself out of the cultural, worldly way of thinking and into my thoughts. You know? Because God said in Isaiah, my thoughts are far above your thoughts.

Well, isn’t that a aren’t those the thoughts we wanna have to live our life?

John McLarty: Absolutely. And it it’s amazing if we’re born again, we are citizens of the kingdom.

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: Well But we may or may not act like citizens of the kingdom, and that’s what this can lead to.

Kimberly Faith: Right. And it’s this this is this is Jesus. I don’t wanna say he’s laying down the gauntlet, but he kinda hits. Saying, you know, you if you say you’re my citizens, then this is what you should be representing. And, you know, my going back to my basic problem with the beatitudes is that I was viewing the teachings of Christ according, to my flesh, according and my flesh is my enemy.

You know? The bible identifies kind of 3 enemies. The world culture, which is influenced by Satan, who’s our second enemy. Right?

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And our flesh.

John McLarty: Our flesh.

Kimberly Faith: And our flesh wants what it wants. All it really cares about is securing creature comforts for itself.

John McLarty: And it never really gives up. It just can be subdued

Kimberly Faith: Right.

John McLarty: To varying degrees.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And one of the challenges that as I was preparing to kind of dig into this this study, one of the challenges that I I felt like that we as Christians need to offer to each other because, you know, we’re supposed to help each other grow closer to God and fill our glorious purpose, was that if you’re if you’re thinking about these beatitudes and you’re challenged by them, but you’re not interested in doing the hard work to allow God to transform you, then you may have the same problem I had for many years of my Christian life, and the same problem that lost people who have never received Jesus Christ as their lord and savior have. If there’s not a desire to let God’s word transform you, I think you need to ask a couple questions. Number 1, have you been born again?

John McLarty: Right. That’s the key.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Because if you’re not born again, then your soul and spirit

John McLarty: don’t sign new nature.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right.

John McLarty: That can the spirit the reborn spirit that can hear and understand the word of God on the

Kimberly Faith: Right. And that let it penetrate.

Kimberly Faith: It penetrates and it builds that desire for us to be closer to Christ, because Jesus Christ lives in us. So that’d be the first, you know, the first thing to think about. The second thing is if you are born again and you can’t say I have I’m living my best life. In other words, you think as soon as you get that new car, you’re gonna be satisfied, but you’re never satisfied. You think as soon as you find a perfect spouse, you’re gonna be satisfied, but you find it doesn’t satisfy you.

You’re still grasping for all those things that the culture tells you will satisfy you. If you haven’t ever been completely satisfied where you found that you are content, completely content with where you are today, then these beatitudes are gonna transform you if you want to do the hard work to be transformed.

John McLarty: And the culture drags the Christian back into the culture. Yes. Just there’s so much out there. The career and the car and, you know, the just having, comfort in those things.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. So I and it’s constantly gonna work against and I’m not and so and just to be clear, these the these beatitudes that Christ is talking about that we need to make our attitudes for life are not a one off. This is a process. This is a journey. Because like you just said, the world’s culture is try is working against us.

Our flesh works against us. Of course, you know, Satan does not want us to live for God’s glory. So we need to be to go into this understanding, it’s kinda like if you need to lose a £100, you go into that diet exercise plan understanding you’re in it for the long haul. You know? Mhmm.

You want to transform what you look like. Well, it’s so much and more important that we want to constantly be transformed, like Romans chapter 12 verse 1 talks about. Paul says, be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may present yourself. Right?

John McLarty: That’s a daily process. It’s an hourly process. It’s actually a minute by minute process.

Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. So in this introduction, this introductory podcast, we wanna set up the excitement, really, for studying these beatitudes because when we start the actual series, next week for the first beatitude, which is the foundation, it is the foundational source for living our best life. That is it is so exciting to me, and it’s so critical that it has when I studied the first beatitude, I was like, this is so this is not hard. This is not some, you know, obscure or complex doctrinal, principle.

This is a decision. This is a decision. That’s why Jesus they’re that’s why I think they’re called the beatitudes. You know? It is an attitude that we develop for life.

John McLarty: It’s how we approach life.

Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And another thing about the beatitudes in general is all these things that they that the blessings that are recited, like, having the kingdom of heaven, being comforted, inherit the earth, being filled, obtained mercy, seeing God, being called the sons of God, possessing the kingdom of heaven, rejoicing. All these things are not pie in the sky by and by. They are here and now.

John McLarty: And something as I’ve been studying these and pondering them deeply, something just for the listeners to look forward to is this is comprehensive. Jesus, this is, as you said, manifesto. This is this is a complete package. Yes. You can study these and not that I mean, it ties into the rest of the Bible, but it’s really it’s really things in a nutshell.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. It’s comprehensive. And, you know, I read some history on the beatitudes, and I don’t know. There’s a great consensus among scholars, but there’s quite a bit of of consensus, I would say, that the Sermon on the Mount in the early church was it was like their church constitution. It was like their foundation.

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: And,

John McLarty: say that.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And it totally makes sense. And if you if you read the rest of the Sermon on the Mount we’re not gonna study the rest of the Sermon on the Mount in this series, but, you know, Jesus goes on to say, you’re the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. And, man, isn’t that what you wanna be?

Mhmm. If you’re if you’re the light of the world, then you are gonna possess the kingdom of heaven right now. If you are the light of the world, you’re not gonna need to be comforted because you are comforted.

John McLarty: And the contradiction seemingly, which is not, but that you start off to be the light of the world by being poor in spirit. Right. That’s so different than the world would say.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. It’s it again, I I go back to when I would read this, I’d say, yeah, this isn’t really for me. I don’t wanna live that way Because I was seeing the beatitudes through the eyes of my flesh

John McLarty: Mhmm.

Kimberly Faith: Not the eyes of my spirit. I love the way Paul describes, you know, that we have the eyes of our spirit are enlightened or the eyes of our soul, excuse me, are enlightened, you know, because our soul is the real us. Our soul is our sense of self awareness. And when we when our spirit is being fed and and we are feeding our spirit and not our flesh, then the eyes of our soul are enlightened to see how this makes sense. And if, as Christians, if we desire to enlighten the eyes of our soul to how we are supposed to live for God’s glory, then these beatitudes are just they’re on point. They’re on point.

John McLarty: And that’s a great point because in in our first podcast, we dealt with that, that you’ve got to be born again. Right. You’ve got to have that born again soul. And interestingly enough, as we go into the next, the first beatitude, that’s key to being born again, is this idea of being born in spirit.

Kimberly Faith: Yes. And that’s and I’m glad you brought that up because, you know, while Jesus did write these beatitudes that he was talking to Christians. Right? Not write them, but he spoke them. You know, it’s really remarkable how Christ, he just I mean, he’s brilliant.

And now that he’s a creator of the world, and I and I that I don’t mean to sound like I’m putting him in human terms, but he preaches this sermon and it and by preaching the poor in spirit first, he’s helping people who may not be born again realize exactly where they stand. Mhmm. So that they can rectify that if they’re a person who says, yeah. I’m  born I’m a Christian. I’m a they, of course, they didn’t call them Christians in the 1st century.

They did later. But I am a follower of God. He helps them recognize right away, either you are or you aren’t, and here’s the criteria. Mhmm. So it’s very exciting, and I don’t wanna get ahead of ourselves. No.

John McLarty: But the gateway.

Kimberly Faith: That is the gateway.

John McLarty: There there’s a reason. Yeah. The first the first beatitude is blessed are the poor in spirit.

Kimberly Faith: Well, I think I think we’ll wrap this up by just, you know, just, asking each person who’s listening this to consider, are you right now experiencing the incalculable blessings of your born again nature? Do you are you completely satisfied with your life? Meaning, do you experience joy every day? And joy isn’t some giddy happiness. We’ve talked about the difference between joy and happiness in our devotionals.

But are you experiencing all the complete satisfaction of an abundant life that Jesus Christ has purchased for you as a born again person? And before you listen to the next podcast, I would just challenge you to ask yourself, what is the one thing that you believe will give you your best life? Name the one thing that if I had this, it would give me my best life. And then I would like you to consider the follow-up question. If you lost it, would you be crushed?

Because the difference between what Christ offers us

John McLarty: That’s a good point. Yes.

Kimberly Faith: Is something we can’t ever lose.

John McLarty: We can never lose.

Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And, so we’re looking forward to the second podcast, which, in the series, the beatitude series, living your best life. And that podcast is going to be the foundational source for living our best life. So we hope you will join us for this transformational, remarkable series that Jesus Christ gave us for living the abundant life. You have been listening to the truth in love podcast with your host, Kimberly Faith.

To discover more answers to the big questions in life, visit us at gofaithstrong.com. Hallelujah.

John McLarty: You rescued me.