Poor in Spirit

Good morning, ladies!!

I’ve been trying to decide what direction to go in this blog and I landed on the idea of going thru the Beatitudes. I looked up the word to see what it actually means, and Beatitude simply means Blessings. It makes sense since they all start with Blessed are the…

The Beatitudes were given by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and can be found in the gospel of Matthew (Matthew 5:3-12). The Beatitudes give us some of the qualities we should strive for as Christians. The virtues spoken of promise present comfort and future reward. I’ve always found it interesting that they speak of qualities that lead to true happiness but are often overlooked by the world. The promises offered in them can give us hope during the personal hardships we go thru.

Today, let’s just look at the first beatitude in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Poor in Spirit means recognizing our own spiritual poverty and dependence on God. Unlike the world which relies on material wealth, self-sufficiency and pride.

Poor in Spirit does not mean financially poor, a wealthy person can be poor in spirit when they recognize that God gives all things and salvation cannot be bought by any worldly means. Poor in spirit does not mean having low self-esteem or lacking confidence in life in general. A Christian’s self-esteem should come from their relationship with God. Remember what Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” This reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles and if God has given us a task to do, we can be sure He will see us thru it. Scripture also tells us that God has gifted every individual differently in order to build up the body of Christ. It’s a good thing to know how God has gifted you and recognize it because those gifts weren’t given for us to sit on or hide or use just for selfish reasons. We have been gifted in order to share those gifts with others and use them within our local church.

I think the main points of being poor in spirit are spiritual humility or knowing that everything comes from God, not self. Our personal achievements, our goodness or anything else won’t bring us the joy that God gives. We have to be willing to admit our own helplessness in that we cannot save ourselves or earn our way into heaven. Human nature wants to believe that we have a part in our salvation, but we could never be good enough, give enough, do enough, to earn it ourselves. We have to be 100% dependent on God for everything, His mercy and grace is everything. We also have to let go of our pride which is generally shown in our need for reputation and self-sufficiency. Again, our nature wants us to believe that we can do it without help, we are strong, basically good and very able to accomplish anything on our own. Our pride loves our reputation to be that of one who “pulls himself up by his bootstraps” and “never asks anyone for anything”

Being poor in spirit is a humble state of heart where we know that without the grace of God, we have absolutely nothing. This first beatitude is all about humility. We come to God as beggars, needing His grace and mercy because we cannot do it on our own.

So, as we go thru the next week, let’s remember to strive for humility, remembering all that God has already done for us. If you’re like me, He’s done plenty! And come join us at our little church on the hill, it’s worth the drive!

Lori Hug