To Be
To be or not to be, that is the question—
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing, end them. To die: to sleep;
Hamlet--Act 3, Scene 1
The popular interpretation of the speech holds that it is a debate on suicide. Hamlet rather impersonally considers the attractions of death ("not to be"), which he likens to a sleep, over life ("to be"), whose pain seems unavoidable. But in the end he notes that the fear of possible suffering in the afterlife "that we know not of" (as opposed to the known evil that is life) tends to stop human beings from actively ending their existence.
The simplest summary of Hamlet’s speech might read "Life is so wretched that suicide would be preferable---except that we’re too afraid of what might come after death."
What we really need to seek, is happiness not just life.
Life and happiness is a choice. We choose to be happy or not.
We can choose to live or die spiritually as well as physically.
The same goes for being happy spiritually we choose TO BE or NOT TO BE. THAT IS THE QUESTION BELOVED.
1. We all want to be happy.
Right? we want to go through life with a feeling of accomplishment that brings happiness. Happiness can be a short lived experience in life or not. Kind of like a kid buying a happy meal at McDonalds. Kids love happy meals don’t they?, It doesn’t matter where we were my kids all knew when we were close to a McDonalds. And the request was always the same, Dad I want a Happy Meal. And it never failed we would standing in line the kids pulling on my shirt saying “when is my happy meal coming, when is my happy meal coming.” They were so full of joy at the prospect of getting a happy meal. And then finally it would appear and we would sit down to eat. The kids would be so over joyed they would want to skip over the food in the meal and go right to the toy. They loved those cheap little toys, and they always had a toy box full of them. But their happiness would last about as long as their fascination with the toy. And that wasn’t very long. They would go off and play never wanting to eat all of the food in that Happy Meal. Then it would be time to go home, and they never wanted to go home. Right?, When it was time to go home their happiness was over. Well we are kind of like that, we make ourselves happy by buying things cars, houses, toys new tools new cookware new clothes new shoes but our happiness doesn’t last. We have all heard the expression money and possessions do not buy happiness. All of our lives we try to do things so that we will be happy. However, to our dismay we find out that these things do no bring happiness, instead we find ourselves surrounded by things that have no real meaning in our lives. People think that happiness can only be achieved when material and momentary conditions are met. People grow up thinking that all they need is a good job the perfect home, the perfect spouse, the perfect kids, the perfect church, the perfect car, the perfect education, when really all they need is Jesus.
Yes those material things are nice but they are not absolutes. Is there something in your life that makes you happy? Or better yet, is there something missing in your life, that keeps you from being happy?
True happiness starts with the mind. Our Lord and Savior told us everything we need to make ourselves happy. All we need to be really happy is found in the Beattitudes.
Matthew 5:1-12
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
What does it mean to be poor in spirit. Does that mean to walk around with your head down feeling miserable or making yourself miserable? No, but it does mean that we recognize that we are spiritual paupers before a holy and righteous God. It means that we see the truth about who we really are. And that me One day a publican and Pharisee went up to pray. One bragged about who he was and what he was and had been doing. The other stands before God and exclaims “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.” Which one was poor in spirit in his own eyes? Which received God’s blessing? Lord have mercy on me a sinner. That is what poor in spirit means and we recognize how much we need God. Being poor means emptying yourself of all those self righteous feelings you have. Emptying yourself of your proud righteousness realizing that we cannot make ourselves happy. It means to empty your heart and mind of all the junk the world puts in there. Poor in spirit means to depend on Jesus and not on your own knowledge, lean not on your own understanding. A lot of people are in danger of living there whole lives for naught. For nothing, because they rely too much on having it all figured out. Lean on Jesus. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
This may seem like a foolish idea. But 1 Cur 1:18 says “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” NIV
The kingdom of heaven is love, joy, peace….so on and so forth. I believe that is contentment, when you can experience love, joy and peace no matter what the circumstances you are content. The kingdom of heaven is here today and it is all eternity. Here today we can experience true love, joy and peace; we can experience the blessing of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven does not depend on material things; it is contentment.
1 Timothy 6:16 says
16who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
Contentment is knowing God, and that He is in control.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2. How do we develop this attitude in our lives?
James 4:7-10 says “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinner, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” In a nut shell Realize who you really are and be content with who you are and blessed you shall be. Amen.
We should be like the Publican that stood before God and declared “Forgive me the sinner that I am.” And not like the Pharisee that was so full of himself. A worldly society would have us believe that mourning is a sign of weakness and that we shouldn’t lower ourselves to such disgraceful means as mourning. It seems that the scripture is contradicting what we have been told but, then that wouldn’t be the first time. Our heavenly Fathers desires often stand in contradiction to what a worldly society would have us believe.
Mourning, is not a sign of weakness it is rather the opposite it is a statement of our inner strength and courage to face up to who we really are. It takes courage to stand before someone who has more power than we do and say I am not perfect.
Just the same it takes real strength and courage to stand before a Holy God and make the declaration “forgive me the sinner I am.” When we do this God will comfort us. People who call out to God will be freed from their poor and weary lives of worldly oppression. When people are honest about their need for God, their spiritual poverty and are moved to mourn will experience the grace of God in His forgiving comforting arms.
Psalm 51:7-17 says “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let he bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart. O God. And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”.
Houghton Mifflin defines meek as “showing patience and humility; gentle; mild: Unresisting; peaceful; passive.” When we are meek we realize that God is in control and we give in to His will.
Our worldly society would want us to be powerful and never give in to anything. We admire those who are strong and mighty. We make fun of the meek. We abuse the gentle, passive people in our society.
We take advantage of the unresisting, patient people in our lives but, God blesses them.
Jesus lived out all these qualities in His life and the worldly society He lived in followed Him for a short time, then made fun of Him, then persecuted and finally hung Him on the cross of Calvary to die. But Jesus took it all on Himself, never one time did he use His power as the Son of God to free himself, He didn’t speak at his trial. He was gentle, passive, unresisting, and patient. God is a shepherd to the meek.
Matthew 11:28-30 says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Amen. Meekness is humility before God, not timidity not shyness, but rather boldness for the kingdom.
5. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
When we get to this stage in our Christian belief people begin to really see a difference in us. You will hear people say “Wow, you seem different, did you lose some weight?” No, they might not say that but there will be a noticeable difference in our actions and outlook and the people around us will notice. When we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness we realize that material, physical things can not bring happiness. We stop trying to manipulate the people around us. We begin to experience satisfaction apart from the world. We begin to have spiritual experiences. We can see God at work in the world like never before. Have you ever noticed that the things of the world can’t fill you? We can only find complete satisfaction when we develop a heavenly hunger for Jesus. Have you ever noticed that the world can not keep its promises but, that God keeps all of His. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” What does the word righteous mean?
“Morally right; just.”
But it is hard to grasp a biblical meaning of righteousness from a dictionary. The new Bible Dictionary says that righteousness has to do with relationships, a God—man relationship and a man—man relationship.
Righteousness in this sense means to be given a true relationship with God that involves the forgiveness of sins; when a sinner falls in line with the will of God in union with Jesus Christ.
It is not just something that we seek to be but something that happens to us as well. Listen, the worldly society we live in tells us that when we fill our personal needs we will be satisfied(filled).
But as Christians we know something different, we know that when we seek righteousness we will be satisfied(filled). Jesus teaches us this. Jesus died on the cross for us passively giving up his life for ours. We can now experience true happiness through Jesus Christ.
This may seem like a foolish idea. But 1 Cor 1:18 says “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” NIV
