Blessed are the Poor in Spirit...

There is so much life to be found in the word of God…

Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

The writer of Hebrews through inspiration of the Holy Spirit said “the word of God is living and active.” IT’S ALIVE! IT’S POWERFUL! IT’S AMAZING!

With these thoughts in mind, on Fridays over the next several weeks I want to look at Matthew 5:3-12. It’s the beginning of the part of scripture we call “The Sermon on The Mount,” and these 10 verses are called “The Beatitudes.” There are eight beatitudes in all, and I hope to look at one a week for the next eight Fridays.

So – here we go…

When we see the word blessed in the Beatitudes (and each beatitude starts with the word blessed) we need to think along the lines of Bliss. The “blessed” he is talking about here is not found in material possessions, or physical blessings. It’s more of a deep spiritual blessing. Its joy in dire circumstances, its hope when there seems to be no way out. Blessed, is the wonderful state of knowing you have found favor with God. And yet, all I’ve said still doesn’t capture the full essence of what it means to be blessed.

Oh the blessedness of… is probably a better way of capturing what is meant here.

Matthew 5:3
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What this means...

Blessed are you who are spiritually bankrupt, destitute, broke and unable to make spiritual ends meet -- when you don’t have so much as two spiritual pennies to rub together.

We often find this a very hard thing to swallow… we say things like “are you saying Jesus wants me to become spiritually poor??!!”

NO, Jesus doesn’t want us to become spiritually poor -- we're already spiritually poor! We are beggars at the door of Jesus, and he only wants us to accept it. He wants us to realize it, and to come to grips with it, so we will let down our guard and embrace the fact that -- on our own -- we are spiritually starving and looking for crumbs at the table of Jesus. When we can come to grips with this, we will stop trying to make it on our own merit – and realize we’re just not that impressive compared to him.

I once heard it said like this…

Nothing in my hands I bring – simply to your cross I cling.

When I finally admit that I’m spiritually broke… only then will I open my heart to his rescue. The verse finishes by saying ...“for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” If I accept that I'm too spiritually poor to "pay my own way", and turn to him and accept his gracious offer to pay my way for me, scripture says then I'm part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

“Blessed are the bankrupt and destitute in spirit, for they have a place in the kingdom of heaven.”

Have a blessed weekend!