Up on a Mountainside

I've been memorizing the Beatitudes lately, which has been beautiful. As Oswald Chambers said, we must take the Beatitudes seriously. We can't walk away from them thinking, "Oh, what a bunch of nice thoughts." The pure in heart really will see God. In Jesus, all those who mourn will be comforted. Those who hunger for righteousness will be fulfilled (a thought that is echoed in Matthew 6:33). But as we marvel over and contemplate the things Jesus said, it is easy to forget the importance of what he did before he taught a single thing.

He went up on a mountainside.

He got alone with the Father.

Matthew 5 doesn't actually start with "Blessed are...." It starts with Jesus fleeing the crowds so he can be with the Father: "Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down." By this point in his ministry, Jesus had swarms of people chasing after him, longing to see more miracles and hear more words of wisdom. Many popular preachers today hunger for these crowds and bask in their approval, but Jesus did not do anything for the approval of man. Not only this, but he realized that he could not keep spending himself and spending himself without taking that quiet time up on a mountainside.

If even Jesus felt that desperate longing to be alone and spend such sweet time with the Father before he taught his disciples, who are we to think we can get by without it?

More importantly, and cutting at the heart issue, why do we want  to get by without it?

Far too often I measure my success and worth by the response of other people to me, not the response of God to me. I, though nothing but dust, spend most of my time seeking the approval of other dust...but all of us will be swept away. The fellowship of God is eternal, and it is more intimate than I could ever know with a person.

I have been learning lately just how precious this intimacy is. I love people, but sometimes I get this feeling that "many words are meaningless" and instead I just want to "stand in awe of God" (Ecclesiastes 5:7). I've found lately that I absolutely cannot love people well and live the day well if I don't allow myself to have this time away with him. It doesn't even have to have a particular purpose; I don't need to be seeking anything; I just want to be with the lover of my soul. Like the disciples, I want to climb the mountainside and find Jesus so we can just spend time with each other, alone, away from the crowds. Away from the calculating eyes of people, and alone with him where my soul can breathe and where he can teach me.

Find your mountainside.