POOR IN SPIRIT

(Day 4)

The Lord Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount stating the virtues in the Kingdom of Heaven that bring spiritual blessings. The first truth is:

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

In this verse the Lord is referring to “spiritual poverty”, which is not material.

A definition of poor is: a person that doesn’t have what is needed to live.

Therefore, “poor in spirit” would be someone that recognizes that he or she doesn’t have what is needed to live in the Kingdom of God.

Poverty is not a desirable state, but in the spiritual sense it is a reality that we must recognize. 

If we believe that we have enough to “earn Heaven”, then we are deceived and would not appreciate the spiritual need we really have. This may very well keep us from entering the Kingdom of God.

(1 John 1:8-9)   If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The ticket to the Kingdom of Heaven is perfect justice. But, who could pay that price?

(Romans 3:10-12) as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

There is no righteous man, other than the Lord Jesus. He paid the price for our sin, and only by believing in him we may have access to His Kingdom.

(Romans 3:23-26)   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Even after we reach salvation by believing in Jesus, we need God to continue growing, to be transformed, to live the fullness of life God has for us. If we are conscious of this, we will continue to search fervently for Him because we know that we need Him and that we want more and more of Him.

To be “poor in spirit” is to recognize that we are in need of God.

POOR CHURCH, RICH CHURCH

In the book of Revelation we read about a church that was materially poor, but Jesus sees it in a different light.

(Rev 2:9a)  I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich)…

Yet there was another church that was exactly the opposite.

(Rev 3:17-18)  For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

This church was materially rich; therefore they believed they had no need. They considered themselves so self sufficient that they had left the Lord outside their door (3:20). The truth was that they were spiritually destitute. Without the Lord we are nothing.

Jesus said:

(John 15:5)  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

It is so dangerous to believe we have no need! If we believe to be spiritually rich we will not search; but if we recognize the need of God we have, we will continually search for Him, just like we search daily for the bread we eat.

Sometimes we think we are “spiritually rich” because we compare ourselves with others that have less than we do. We feel “superior”, and that makes us believe we are successful. Let us not conform! As long as we have not reach the measure of the stature of Christ we are not finished. He is our goal, our example.

PRAYER

Lord, please forgive me for believing myself to be self sufficient. I have lived my whole life making decisions without considering you. I have reaped the fruit of my own wrong decisions and today I recognize it and ask for your forgiveness. I have failed you and I have failed myself. But today I come before you in repentance, willing to change.

Today I recognize that I am poor in spirit. Without You, Lord, there is nothing I can do. I want more and more of You. I need you, like a plant needs water to revitalize. I want that gold refined by fire, those white garments that clothe the shame of my nakedness, and also that salve to anoint my eyes so that I may see the spiritual truth.

Lord, I am willing to recognize my spiritual poverty and be rich in You.

[John 15:5; Rev. 3:18]