Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jensen Holt McNair.

Celebrity and influencer apology videos have become superfluous on the internet. I'm sure you've seen one.

When a person in the spotlight is found

wanting in some way, the response they often give is to create a video where they give this

public apology. Oftentimes there's crying, an explanation is given for their offense. They ask for

forgiveness. They promise to be better.

The videos remain pretty consistent, and so does the pushback that they often receive.

You see, these videos are often only made if the influential person is facing enough of a backlash,

if it begins to affect their career, their finances, if it garners too much attention. See, the critique is often that they're only sorry they got caught, or they're upset about

the backlash, not about what they did. Now, whether the influencer or celebrity on trial

deserves the backlash they're getting is not my focus.

I'm interested in the notion that as humans we recognize it is in our nature to be grieved over our faults, our mistakes, our sins,

not because we feel truly sorry, not because we're grieved by our actions,

but because we're grieved by the pain they've produced in our lives, the loss of reputation,

the loss of approval. In Matthew 5, when Jesus is preaching the sermon on the Mount,

he begins with what we refer to as the B

attitudes. These are a summary of what Jesus is going to teach. They're laying out the ways

and the attitudes of His kingdom, the kingdom of God. He's beginning his sermon by telling his

audience about who is blessed, who is happy, who is

flourishing in his kingdom. And these beatitudes get a lot of attention because they seem

backwards to the way the world often thinks of blessing and flourishing. In verse four, he says,

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