August 18

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

As I think of those listeners who sat on a hillside, listening to Jesus, I often wonder if they understood what they were hearing.  Jesus presented a remarkable, life-changing message that they had never before heard.  I can picture them listening to teachers in the synagogue, and they would have been exposed to teaching that was in stark contrast to that of Jesus.  They would have been listening to the Law, and all of its corollaries, all the time being placed under a burden of guilt and anxiety over their condition before the Lord.  But now they were hearing strange words about being poor in spirit.  Prior to this their teacher would not likely have presented anything resembling a poor spirit.

To be poor in spirit is to fully realize your inadequacy before God to do anything that would merit approval.  It is also to realize that you are spiritually destitute without the intervention of God.  It is not that we are a little bit short of spiritual perfection—it is that we are at the zero starting point.  Of course this is our condition before God as we stand in the nature of Adam.  The spiritually poor realize their need for a turning to God to find fulfillment.

What does it mean to be blessed?  Some translations read “happy” in place of blessed, but I think that interpretation misses the mark.  To be blessed is to realize a condition that occurs without any effort or attempt or our part to achieve it.  A blessing is something we do not earn or even merit.  It is the reception of an act of God—something that we cannot even explain unless we turn to God as the source.

Today Lord, let us walk as those who are blessed with a humble and poor spirit.  That is the perspective upon life that allows You to work with us and share life with us.  You cannot deal with a proud, arrogant spirit, and I trust You to remove any traces of that within me.  Thank You and Amen.

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