Are You a Good Person?

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Poor in Spirit

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

These "Be Attitudes" of Christ are really Christ's commentary on the Law of God. So we have a unique view of all the teachings of the Law in this very famous sermon of Jesus.

The first "B" is "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Most people would at least hesitate at such a teaching. After all, who really wants to be poor? Yet, Jesus isn't talking about physical poverty here, He's talking about spiritual poverty. By this I'm not talking about spiritual depravity, but a humbleness of one's spirit. Let us examine this a bit.

Those who are rich in spirit are proud. They are, "full of themselves" as we say. The problem with a rich spirit is that there isn't any room for God or the many blessings He wished to give us. When we humble ourselves before God, then we become poor in spirit. We create a place for God and His blessings.

There's a song where a person is wondering why they aren't receiving any blessings. Then after some struggles he realizes, "You could not fill hands that were already filled." I had a discussion with my son when he was little that was simply amazing. We were drinking a couple of cokes and I decided he was old enough to learn how to look at things in a positive light. You probably all have heard how a glass can be seen as half empty or half full. It's the way we view this that either brings us under depression or makes us victorious. We'll as I'm explaining this to my son, I'm also drinking my coke. Finally, just as I make my last comments, I set down the empty glass. My son not only understood what I was saying, but took it to another level. "Look Daddy!" he said. "Your glass is full all the way to the bottom." I was stunned. He had spoken truth in a way that I hadn't even seen. I learned from my son that day, as it is written, "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." (Ps. 8:2)

Look around you. The world is in a mess. Why? Because we have turned away from God. We are full of ourselves. We have no room for God, but even little children who don't live in Christian homes are more pure in heart than most adults. They, being poor in spirit, are rich in God. We also read in Rev. 2:9a "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)". This was to written to the church at Smyrna. Compare this with this passage, "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Rev. 3:17)

So where do you stand? Are you poor in spirit? Have you divested yourself of your own desires so that God may fill you with His riches? Or are you clinging to those fleshly desires to the point of your own dissatisfaction? God wants to bless you, but the choice He leaves up to you.

David Brollier